


ignore the warning signs

by sizhu



Series: ignore the warning signs [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, M/M, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M, Threesome - M/M/M, three-way relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-04-12 03:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 25,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4463942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sizhu/pseuds/sizhu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroo has no idea what he's getting into when his crush for Daichi is compounded by Daichi's gorgeous roommate. Hinata suffers from high stress trying to deal with Kageyama and Yachi both after his affections at the same time. The coffee shop is a very stressful place to work sometimes.</p><p>University shenanigans ensue. And Hinata nearly smacks Kuroo's face with a whisk at some point.</p><p>Rating may go up as story progresses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. most people are introduced

**Author's Note:**

> Two AU ideas on tumblr inspired this: 
> 
> “I sent a selfie of myself in the tub to the wrong number and you responded back with another selfie. Holy shit you’re really attractive.”
> 
> and 
> 
> I don't remember the exact wording of the other one but two people having a crush on the same barista or something. 
> 
> This whole project has gotten WAY OUT OF CONTROL PLEASES SEND HELP
> 
>  
> 
> **IT SHOULD ALSO BE NOTED THAT THIS ENTIRE WORK IS UNBETA'D**

Buying groceries every week was always a stressful endeavor. Sure, he had a meal card, but he still needed to have a stock of food in his fridge and pantry for, you know, when he didn't feel like leave his apartment to go deal with the throng of people that inevitably filled the meal halls (or when it was too late in the evening and they'd closed). Still, it was a stressful and frustrating endeavor, having to be so careful and keep track of everything he spent. His part time position at the university cafe didn't pay him enough to splurge on groceries—he still had to set aside money for emergencies and the occasional office supply (he's lost count of how many pens he's gone through taking notes for that insane psychology course—the lecturer _never_ stopped talking, and no one ever knew what would potentially be on an exam). Kuroo sighed, rubbing his face as he pulled out his phone and checked his bank account to see how much he had left for the month to work with: not much. He ran a hand through his hair, pocketing his phone and waltzing confidently into the grocery store—hey, just because he _was_ a broke college student didn't mean he had to _act_ like one.

Budgeting was ridiculous. Kuroo frowned at the display of packaged fish, wanting just once to splurge on a good grilled fish meal. But then he was sorely reminded that he didn't have access to a grill on campus. His frown deepened as he turned away from the fish. He'd already done enough damage by just _wishing_ for the fish. Ugh, why did food cost so much? Kuroo sighed and walked down the aisles with his little basket, carefully picking out things that he absolutely needed (bonus for him if it was on sale). He wandered from aisle to aisle, scratching off things on his little notepad list. A lot of things were on sale that day, so Kuroo found himself with enough money left over to go pick up some non-food essentials. Briefly, Kuroo's mind wandered back to that package of pike, whispering temptations in his ear like, _buy me_ and _you know you want fish tonight_. The fish called to him, but he had to resist that sweet siren song. Kuroo pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes tightly and willing away the temptation of the fish. After, he jerked his chin up and held his head high as he pointedly walked away from the market part of the grocery store. If he walked away, the fish couldn't tempt him. Nope, no way, no how. Besides, they (he and his bouncy little roommate) needed laundry detergent. And a few other things. Kuroo picked up the detergent and headed over to the hygiene aisle, grabbing some much needed shower wash, shampoo, and conditioner (all in the extra sizes because it was a better deal and his roommate tended to forget them anyway, so… hey, someone had to look out for the ball of energy). In his quick raiding of the hygiene aisles, Kuroo happened upon a bottle of bubble bath. It was sitting there on the shelf, advertising itself as 50% off. _Pink Chiffon_. Well.

If he couldn't have the fish, he was at least gonna make himself laugh (and possibly his roommate, too) over some pretentious bubble bath. Hell, maybe his roommate might actually use it.

 

 

 

Hinata slid his key into the door, huffing. He pushed the door open, shrugging off his jacket.

"Kuroo-san? I'm back! You won't _believe_ the day I've had!" Hinata padded all the way into the tiny apartment and looked around, blinking. It was dark—and empty. Kuroo must not have left while Hinata was in class. Hinata shrugged and finally shut the door before flicking on some of the lights and heading into the kitchen. He planned on rummaging through the fridge for some food and get some homework done before his evening shift at the cafe. Before he could open the fridge and see what he could salvage, he caught the note stuck on the door with a kitty-face cartoon magnet.

 

_Fridge is empty, shrimp. Out grocery shopping._

_—Kuroo_

Hinata blinked and smiled a little. He took the note off the fridge and opened it, anyway, just to grab a water bottle. He closed it and took the note to the bedroom, humming softly. He set the water bottle on his little desk and dropped his backpack on the floor. Flopping down on his bed, he rummaged through the bag and pulled out one of his photography textbooks (A History of Photography, _boring_ ), intending to read some the assigned pages before he had to work. He'd use the note Kuroo left him as a bookmark when he had to go (and then he'd lose it, just like all the rest of the notes Kuroo'd left for him on the refrigerator door—sad, because he liked the little notes; almost felt like Kuroo was a real big brother looking out for him). Hinata shook his head, focusing his thoughts on his textbook instead of his Super Cool Roommate™. Focus as he might, he just couldn't, and eventually dozed off (hey, even if he loved taking pictures and the art of photography, history was always such a snoozefest).

Despite his nap, he luckily made it to work on time. Hinata had barely made it behind the counter when a short blonde girl walked into the cafe at the same time as a tall black haired guy. Hinata watched them as they looked at each other, squared their shoulders, and _marched_ to the counter (almost practically racing). Unbelievable. They were just un- _fucking_ -believable. Hinata groaned, steeling himself for the inevitable.

Hinata reminded himself that he only had to hold out for a half an hour before Kuroo would join him for their shift.

 

 

 

Sweat rolled down Daichi's brow. He lifted his arm and wiped it away, blinking and squinting in the afternoon sun. Working as a junk hauler and mover was exhausting, sometimes back-breaking work. But it paid well (and women in particular tipped pretty well, usually—when he had to take his shirt off). Still, though, it was tough work and by the end of a shift, he reeked of sweat and occasionally trash. And, of course, he would occasionally come back to his university apartment smelling like old lady, cat urine, and moth balls. On those days, when he'd get home after a day of hauling junk for moth ball cat ladies, he'd have to spritz his tip bills with Febreeze or some shit because, seriously, the stench permeated everything. Suga liked to tease him endlessly about his work sometimes—all in good fun, of course, and only if Suga caught him after a shift _before_ a shower. (Bless Suga, though, because he knew the best laundry detergent in the world—seriously, the stuff he got could get _death_ out of clothes, though we don't talk about how Suga knew that little detail.)

The end of Daichi's shift was coming up and he couldn't be happier—he was dealing with one of those too-saccharine little old ladies that meant well but kind of made him more than just a little uncomfortable: commenting on how handsome he was and how much he reminded them of their grown grandsons while simultaneously trying to find ways to get him out of his shirt. Old ladies, man. But, hey. It was a paying job and Daichi needed the money (they weren't completely broke, with Suga coming from a moderately wealthy family and Daichi's own family weren't paupers, either), but you never knew when you'd have some kind of emergency. Or would need some extra pocket money for something or another. Still, Daichi was overwhelmingly relieved when one of the other haulers clapped him on his shoulder and relieved him of his shift. He couldn't get out of there fast enough. And it wasn't just because he was eager to get out of the Little Old Lady™ house but he had two hours to get back to his apartment, take a shower, put on clothes that _didn't_ smell like Little Old Lady™ and race across campus to get to one of his anthropology classes (Culture in a Digital Age, or something like that—it _was_ Tuesday, right? Shit, he's been breathing in moth balls for too long.)

Daichi was five minutes late to class.

He did not have Starbucks or toast in his mouth. Hey, it was a 6:00 class!

 

 

 

Suga worked at the university library. A fitting place as any for someone majoring in Library and Information Science. Not only was he getting (somewhat) relevant work experience in his field of study, but it was _quiet_. Occasionally, a group would get a little too rowdy on the first floor, but for the most part, it was quiet, peaceful job. Suga took perhaps a little too much pleasure in making sure the library was in working order—re-shelving returns was strangely relaxing for him. But mostly his job was usually to maintain the holds desk and make sure students had quick and easy access to books that teachers reserved for their classes.

The library was Suga's hideaway from his apartment and his classes (not that he needed hiding from Daichi—he loved his roommate, he did—but sometimes he just had to get out of the apartment for a little while). When the holds and reserves counter wasn't too busy, he was able to get homework done — and sometimes he was even able to get _ahead_ in his classwork. Another one of the great things about Suga's library job, though, was that his shift always ended right in line with the end of Daichi's evening anthropology class. And the building where Daichi's had his classes was right across from the library, so they didn't have to meet up elsewhere to walk back to their apartment together. It wasn't that Suga couldn't walk back on his own—he most certainly could. He just preferred to walk with his friend and talk about their days. And maybe get in a little teasing about Daichi's biggest tippers, the Little Old Ladies™.

Of course, neither of them would be getting free for another two hours and forty-five minutes.


	2. kuroo fails a test, there is some gossip

Kuroo couldn't believe it. He thought he totally aced that exam. He'd felt pretty damn good about it (and himself) when he walked out of that classroom the week before, but apparently he'd been wrong. _Wrong, wrong, **wrong**_. Still, he wasn't sure how he _failed_ the test! Then again, the professor _was_ something of a hard ass. But Kuroo had been _sure_ they totally had a whole bro-thing going. Apparently he'd been wrong about that, too. Just what _else_ was he going to be wrong about this week? He hoped it wasn't his friendship with Daichi or the fact that Hinata had _two_ suitors vying for his attention at the coffee shop. (Hey, they worked a shift together, and Kuroo wasn't blind _or_ stupid—despite what a gen ed philosophy test might suggest—and he saw the way those two other artsy kids were always so eager to come in when Hinata was on shift). Moving on from that aside…

There was still the matter of the failed test that Kuroo had to worry about. He wasn't necessarily _upset_ over the failure as he was… Miffed. Miffed that this one test could sink his whole semester average. He'd already flunked out of Statistics for Psychology and was having to retake it. Any more shots to his grades and his GPA could potentially tank. Ugh. Shit totally sucked. He had enough to worry about without adding grades to the mix (paycheck, Hinata eating all the groceries—okay that last one wasn't fair; Hinata was the reason Kuroo hadn't starved yet, he was a genius in the kitchen and could make peanut butter and toast into something gourmet).

Still, he couldn't believe he failed a _general_ education philosophy test. It wasn't like it was an upper level class for hard core philosophy majors. It was supposed to be an easy fill for a gen ed humanities requirement. Clearly his failed test proved otherwise, and Kuroo was pretty sure he'd be miffed about it for days. Kuroo puffed his cheeks out and shoved the offending piece of paper in his bag, where it would inevitably be beat to hell by his abnormal psychology textbook. Maybe he'd praise the textbook and treat it to an hour of studying if the wretched test was unrecognizable by the time he walked through his apartment door. Maybe. Possibly. (He probably wouldn't, if he was honest with himself.)

When Kuroo finally made it from the humanities building to the apartment, the thought of any studying (as a reward for mangling his failed philosophy test or otherwise) for any of his classes had slipped his mind. He blamed it entirely on the delightful smell coming from the tiny kitchen he shared with Hinata. Seriously, the shrimp's cooking could make angels cry. Probably. Most likely. Hinata would make whoever he married a very, _very_ happy person. Kuroo was going to miss Hinata's cooking one day, that was for certain. He rapped his knuckles on the wall as he rounded the corner into the kitchenette so he wouldn't scare his tiny roommate. "Yo, Hinata."

"Kuroo-san!" Hinata bounced, grinning as he poked and prodded at a skillet that sizzled with stir-fry. "You're back early. Good thing I made enough stir-fry. Well. Am making. It's not done ye—no! Bad vegetables! No spitting at me!"

Kuroo laughed as he watched Hinata argue with the skillet. He walked out of the kitchen and shrugged off his bag and jacket, dropping them on his bed and stretching. Walking back out to the living area, he flopped onto the couch with as much grace as an intoxicated platypus. "So, how's that problem of yours going?"

"Problem?" Hinata blinked, turning his head and looking over the bar separating the kitchenette from the living area. "What prob—oooh that one. You saw how they were when you came in for your shift the other day! You weren't there when I started, so you didn't see them practically race each other to the counter. It's so embarrassing sometimes, especially in color theory! Bakageyama is soooo not subtle."

Hinata went on and on about how 'Bakageyama' and the other one—Yachi, Kuroo remembered—kept competing for his attention, and Kuroo listened to him intently like the Super Cool Roommate™ that he was. He never once offered a solution to Hinata's problem, though, because it was best not to get involved when playground crushes were involved. Kuroo also knew that Hinata didn't actually _want_ to his help—just someone to listen to him vent about his ridiculous classmate-and-coffee-shop-regulars. Kuroo was glad to be that kind of help - Lord knew that he wouldn't be of any _other_ kind of help. He was just as bad as Hinata when it came to potential love lives. He did have one question, though.

"So, Hinata, what are you going to do?"

"Eh?" Hinata blinked at Kuroo, mind blanking at the unexpected questioning. It took him a moment to get his brain to click back on. "…I'm not sure. I mean—they're both kind of cute. And they're not _bad_. Yachi is nice and calming. But, ugh, Bakageyama is… He's angry all the time and his smile scares small children. It probably even gives them nightmares! It's like he doesn't know _how_ to smile? Which is so weird! I mean, everyone knows how to smile, right?"

"Uh—…sure." Kuroo laughed. "So, are you torn or what?"

"No, I—… I'm not torn. I know what _I_ want, I guess, but…" Hinata fidgeted, picking awkwardly at his fingers. He couldn't meet Kuroo's eyes as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"You want them both." Kuroo arched his eyebrows.

Hinata nodded slightly, eyes still downcast. He looked small - well, small for _him_. "But would they—?"

Kuroo chuckled quietly. "You really do like these two, don't you? Well, I'm certainly not going to tell you what to do. Not that I could even if I wanted to. I'm just as inexperienced as you are."

"Blasphemy!" Hinata gasped, eyes wide as saucers. "You're—I mean—you're—"

"What?" Kuroo laughed. "I'm what?"

"— _you,_ " Hinata finished lamely.

Kuroo laughed even harder. "Yeah, I guess I am pretty hot."

"That's—!" Hinata spluttered, waving one hand as he transferred the vegetables and beef from the skillet into a serving bowl. "Kuroo-san! That's not what I was gonna say at all!"

"Oh? So I'm not?"

"…Well, yeah—" Hinata bit his tongue. "But I mean… You're confident. And cool. And stuff."

Kuroo chuckled. "I know what you meant. But, believe it or not, Hinata, I'm no Casanova."

Hinata tilted his head, turning to Kuroo with his brows knit together quizzically. "But you're always chatting up customers, making them laugh and smile. That's flirting, right?"

Kuroo snorted. "I'm paid to be charming. Besides, I'm not really interested in anyone the way you are. Well—except maybe Sawamura, if he got the stick out of his ass and loosened up some."

"Sawamura?" Hinata asked, filling two plates up with stir-fry and padding over to Kuroo and the couch. He gave one plate to Kuroo before sitting down next to him and folding his legs under him. "You mean Daichi? The one that works for that hauling service?"

Kuroo grinned a bit. "Yeah."

Hinata knit his brows together before he laughed. "You only like him because he looks good without a shirt on."

"Rude."

"It's true, though."

Kuroo snorted. "Well, he does look good lifting heavy objects when he's all covered in sweat and no shirt—I swear the heavens themselves sculpted him."

"…Wow."

"What? He's good eye candy."

Hinata snickered. "You're horrible. He's a good tipper, though. At our coffee shop."

Kuroo sat up, squinting at Hinata. "You've served him?"

Hinata grinned back at Kuroo. "Well, if you would start your shift on time like you're _supposed_ to, maybe you could serve him, too. He usually comes in shortly after I start but before you do."

Kuroo fell silent for a moment. And then, "Starting tomorrow, I will show up on time."

Hinata just laughed and laughed. "Well, _I_ still have to work tonight, so."

 

Somewhere across campus, Daichi sneezed. Many times. Suga offered him a box of tissues before carrying on with whatever it was he was busy doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wheezes
> 
> this project is going to be the death of me I'M SO GLAD I HAVE LIKE 9 OR TEN CHAPTERS TOTAL PREWRITTEN (including these first two)


	3. awkward confrontation in the coffee shop

Kageyama's lips turned downward into a deep, possibly murderous, scowl—if the crowd of stressed students parting before him was any indication of how terrifying he looked as he marched toward the coffee shop. Today was the day. He would finally confront Yachi about Hinata. He would make his point and convince her to back off from trying to woo Hinata. He would succeed. He would most definitely win Hinata over. And he definitely would _not_ get distracted by Hinata's sunshine smile as he served customers, or the bright cheer in his voice when he told people to 'have a nice day'. Kageyama squared his shoulders, lifted his head high, and waltzed into the coffee shop. And then he saw Hinata behind the counter, smiling and laughing with a co-worker, and he faltered. Confidence he didn't have wavered. His legs slowed, weak, as he approached the counter. Fortunately for him, Yachi was nowhere to be seen (yet). He still had time to recollect himself for his planned confrontation. When Kageyama made it to the counter, he placed his hands on it to keep his fingers from twitching. He gripped the counter so hard that his knuckles turned white as he tried to steady himself and calm his thudding heart. So much for the proud and confident stroll he'd had going on the way there—it seemed like the mere sight of Hinata sucked all his courage away.

Hinata noticed Kageyama when the bell chimed, signaling the door opening, but he didn't greet him right away—he was showing Kuroo how to make some new foam art designs, at his request (apparently his newly hatched idea of attempting to woo Daichi the next time he came in while Kuroo was on shift). Hinata laughed, a quiet and gentle sound as Kuroo struggled with the intricate designs. He pat Kuroo on the back, reassuringly, before turning his attention to the counter and Kageyama. "Bakageyama. You're late today. What's up?"

Kageyama blinked slowly at Hinata, brain fizzing and buzzing as he worked to comprehend Hinata's question. Was Hinata asking him why he wasn't there at his usual time? Was he asking what he wanted to drink? Something else? In the end, Kageyama was only able to quietly and slowly stammer out his order. "…Hot chocolate. And a cinnamon roll…"

"Uh—Okay…" Hinata rang up the order and set to work making the coffee for Kageyama (while Kuroo helpfully got out a plate and used the pair of tongs to pull out a cinnamon roll from the bakery display). "You okay, Kageyama? You're being kinda weird, you know."

"No, I'm not."

"Dude, I asked you what was up and you spit out an order at me," Hinata said, creating some weird art with the whipped cream and sprinkles in Kageyama's cup before setting it on the counter for him. He took the plate from Kuroo (who gave him a knowing smirk, the bastard), and set it next to the hot chocolate. "You're distracted, so what's up? Everything okay? That's about five bucks, by the way."

Kageyama nodded, pulling out his wallet and handing Hinata the payment. Hinata took the bills and counted them, before blinking. He looked up at Kageyama questioningly, but he only received a shrug in return. "Keep the change."

"…thanks…?" Hinata wasn't about to question getting extra money, but still—that was quite the generous tip.

"Don't—uhm—mention it." Kageyama scowled and took his plate and hot chocolate, looking around the shop to see if there were any empty and isolated tables available.

"…You're being really strange." Hinata furrowed his brows together, pocketing his tip after putting the charge in the cash register. "Seriously, Kageyama, what's wrong?"

"It's—" Kageyama frowned at Hinata. "Would—would you—"

"Hinata-kun!"

Neither of them had heard the door bell chime when it opened. Kageyama nearly jumped out of his skin before swearing under his breath and turning his sour gaze to the interloper — one Yachi Hitoka. Just the person Kageyama had been planning to confront about their (read: his) little problem. Of two people crushing on the same person. Kageyama had briefly thought he'd get lucky enough to manage asking the little ball of sunshine out before Yachi showed up that day, but that hope had very clearly been in vain. Dashed against the sharp, jagged rocks of reality and disappointment. Kageyama almost wanted to throw his cinnamon roll at her out of sheer frustration. But as frustrated as he was, he couldn't—wouldn't, would _never—_ do something like that to someone who looked as innocent as she did. _Even though he knew she wasn't innocent_.

"Yachi." Hinata smiled at her. "You're late, too. Not that I'm _complaining_. I liked not having you two try to strangle each other with your brains, but it's just _weird_ , since, y'know, it's so _different_."

"Last minute work on a project for typography." Yachi yawned, stretching out. "I still have a lot to do but I need a caffeine jump start and Hinata-kun always makes the best coffee."

Kageyama furrowed his brows at her, frowning. Listen to her, praising Hinata like it'll get her brownie points from him. He was about to mutter something under his breath when Kuroo made an indignant sound behind the counter. (His own awkwardness would have prevented him from saying anything, _anyway_ , had Kuroo not intervened.)

"Wow, blondie." Kuroo sniffed, crossing his arms in mock offense. "After all the drinks I've made for you and that's how you treat me? Some second-rate barista that isn't as good as the shrimp here?"

Yachi blinked before her eyes widened and she waved her hands frantically, stammering with bright pink cheeks. "N-no! I just—"

Kuroo laughed, uncrossing his arms and throwing one around Hinata's shoulders and ruffling his hair. "You're right, though. The shrimp _does_ make the best damn coffee on campus. I'm such a lucky guy to have him for a roommate."

Hinata swatted at Kuroo. "Yeah, yeah. Extremely lucky you have me otherwise you'd _starve_. Get off me. You're heavy and I have a cup of coffee to make—you want your usual, right Yachi?"

"Y-yes, please!" Yachi smiled brightly at Hinata.

"It'll be ready soon," Hinata said, smiling back at her. "Kuroo-san will bring it over to you, if you want to sit down while you wait."

Yachi nodded, smiling as she gave both Hinata and Kuroo a slight, awkward little bow before quickly paying for her usual order of coffee with a triple shot of espresso (Kuroo always thought that was fucking _insane,_ even for an art student). "Thanks! I appreciate it. I still have a lot of work to do… The caffeine will really help!"

Hinata took the payment and waved at her as she bounced away, side ponytail bobbing with each bounce. How cute. Hinata shook his head and turned back to Kageyama, who had been standing there awkwardly the whole time. "Sorry, Kageyama—what were you going to ask me?"

Kageyama jolted, standing rigid. "It was nothing. Never mind. Don't worry about it."

"…Okay…" Hinata shook his head again and went back to making Yachi's ridiculous coffee. "You're so weird, Bakageyama."

Kuroo snickered behind Hinata, but cut off with a hiss when Hinata stepped on his foot. Kageyama gave Hinata one last wistful look while Kuroo was distracting him. He shook his head at his crush's childish antics before taking his cinnamon roll and hot chocolate, complete with weird abstract whipped cream art - seriously, what the hell, Hinata? Was that blob of whipped cream and cocoa shavings supposed to be some kind of heart? It was mutated — lopsided and sinking as the hot chocolate slowly melted the whipped cream into nothingness. One by one, cocoa shavings fell into steaming chocolate and disintegrated. They never stood a chance against the hot liquid. Kageyama sat down across from Yachi at the corner table where she'd taken up temporary residence, unsure of what to do with himself but knowing he had to at least _try_ to communicate with Yachi about the issue that was Hinata Shouyou and his affections.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> loud pitiful whining it's so hard not to post all the chapters i have at once but i still have to finish writing this damn thing


	4. kuroo intervenes in 2 idiots love lives

Yachi looked up when Kageyama plopped down at her table. Her eyes widened at Kageyama's fierce expression — brows furrowed together and lips tightly pursed. She squeaked, putting her pencil down.

"Kageyama-kun…?" Yachi chewed on her lip. "What is it…?"

"You interrupted me," Kageyama stated, deadpan despite his stern expression.

"Oh!" Yachi covered her mouth, shocked. "I'm sorry! Were you still ordering when I came in…? I'm sorry!"

"No." Kageyama shook his head, frowning. "…I already ordered…"

Realization dawned on Yachi's face. She gasped, clasping her hands together. "Oh, no. You weren't—oh my God. Kageyama-kun, I'm so sorry! I didn't know!"

Kageyama's frown deepened. Why was she being so considerate? Weren't they competing with each other for Hinata? Weren't they after the same thing? Mortal enemies for Hinata's affection? Maybe he'd grossly misjudged her character… Kageyama glanced over to the counter where Hinata was making drinks for waiting customers. Kuroo had disappeared somewhere. Kageyama knit his brows together before turning his attention back to Yachi. "… you didn't hear me when you came in?"

It wasn't like Kageyama's stammering had been all that quiet. Yachi shook her head.

"No… I didn't hear anything over the bell," she said. She put her hands on the table and stood up abruptly, causing the table to tremble slightly. "I'm going to make it up to you!"

"What—" Kageyama squared his shoulders, preparing for the absolute worst. "What are you doing, Yachi?"

"I'm gonna go up there and ask him out for you," Yachi declared, determination brightening her face despite the tense anxiety in her eyes. She was going to make it up to Kageyama and do that favor for him, though she had no idea how to do that without actually throwing up or fainting.

Kageyama choked on a bite of his cinnamon roll. He stared up at Yachi with wide eyes and a half-eaten cinnamon roll hanging from his slender fingers. He managed to collect himself before Yachi could escape to commit her heinous act of treason. He hissed at her. "Don't you _dare_."

"Why not?" Yachi asked, blinking curiously at him. "You were going to, weren't you?"

"Yeah, but…" Kageyama frowned, setting his cinnamon roll down. "I should do it myself… Don't you like him, too…?"

"Well, yeah," Yachi said, sitting back down across from Kageyama. "I mean, what's not to like?"

"You two are absolutely ridiculous," Kuroo said, placing Yachi's insanely caffeinated coffee in front of her, along with a slice of strawberry shortcake.

Yachi and Kageyama jumped out of their skin in unison, hearts racing. The only thing they didn't do together was shriek — Yachi had that covered. Kuroo had appeared out of virtually nowhere and very well nearly scared the life out of poor, innocent (not so innocent) Yachi. Kuroo shook his head, chuckling at the two terrified art students. "You're both ridiculous, you know. Completely and utterly ridiculous. Like two lovesick high school kids."

"We are not!" Kageyama snapped before stuffing the rest of his cinnamon roll in his mouth and refusing to meet Kuroo's eerie, knowing gaze.

Yachi simply squeaked, covering her face, which had since turned a bright pink. "Kuroo-san, you scared me!"

"Sorry—but Hinata did tell you I was bringing your coffee over when it was done." Kuroo snickered, ruffling Yachi's hair affectionately and dislodging her adorable side ponytail in the process. "So, the awkward knight and the anxious princess are after the charming king's favorite joker? If that's the case, you're not doing a very good job of it."

"We're—" Yachi squeaked.

"Hopelessly pining when you don't have to," Kuroo said.

Kageyama swallowed the last bite of his cinnamon roll and scowled at Kuroo. "We're not pining. If Yachi hadn't ran in, I would have asked Hinata out!"

"Keep your voice down," Kuroo said. "I know, but Hinata doesn't know that. He just thinks you're silly. Both of you."

Yachi's lower lip quivered at the knowledge. Kageyama's brow furrowed deeper than usual. Hinata thought they were silly? Did that mean Hinata didn't really like them? But how could that be? Hinata had always been open with his feelings — if he didn't like you, you knew about it pretty quickly (but, so far, it seemed that there wasn't anyone that Hinata truly disliked). Kuroo just laughed even more.

"I'm sorry—well, know I'm not. But I wasn't very clear." Kuroo ran a hand through his hair before looking over his shoulder to make sure that Hinata was still plenty distracted with customers. "He thinks your competition with each other is silly."

"We're not competing," Yachi said (pointedly ignoring Kageyama's snort). "I was about to ask Hinata out _for_ Kageyama-kun because I interrupted him earlier…"

"Because, princess, you're too nice of a person for your own good." Kuroo mimicked Kageyama's snort. "But I'm gonna do you two a favor so our favorite little jumping shrimp doesn't have to come back to the apartment stressed out about trying to make both his best friends happy at the same time."

"What do you mean?" Kageyama looked up at Kuroo, betraying none of his confusion—no, the confusion was all on Yachi's face.

"Just that—" Kuroo sighed, frowning. "Maybe you two chickadees should work _together_ for his attention rather than stressing each other out. Anyway, I need to get back to work before Hinata threatens to try and blackmail me. Just think about it, will you?"

With that, Kuroo left Kageyama and Yachi to reflect on his words of wisdom. Yachi anxiously tapped her pencil on her notebook while pinking at her strawberry shortcake (that she distinctly did _not_ remember ordering at _all_ ). Kageyama fidgeted restlessly in his seat. He watched awkwardly as Kuroo returned to work back behind the counter with Hinata. He stiffened when Hinata's gaze met his. Jerking his head away when Hinata gave him a smile and a wave, he lowered his gaze to his unfinished hot chocolate. It was lukewarm now, and probably wouldn't taste very good. Kageyama slowly stirred his chocolate with the little silver spoon in the cup. Liquefied whipped cream sloshed dangerously against the rim of the cup.

"…What do you think he meant, Yachi…?"

Yachi took a bite of her strawberry shortcake, looking at Kageyama with the fork in her mouth. Kageyama made the mistake of looking up at her at that moment — made the mistake of seeing her thoughtful expression and the tongs of the fork still trapped between soft lips. _Shit_. He suddenly knew what Kuroo meant without Yachi trying to answer his question. She did anyway, removing the fork from her mouth and taking a sip of her coffee.

"He said we should work together…" Yachi trailed off, considering her next words carefully. "He… I think he suggested that Hinata-kun likes us both, Kageyama-kun… And he said that our… That we cause him a great deal of stress."

"…What do we do, then?" Kageyama was never one to admit when he was lost—he was never fond of it, honestly, and felt that it wounded his pride—but he had little choice now. Kuroo _had_ said that they should work together, after all.

Yachi was quiet for a long moment before giving him a quivering smile. He could see her anxiety. "I guess we talk it out with each other… And then we talk it out with Hinata-kun, then see where it goes from there. One step at a time, though, right, Kageyama-kun?"

Kageyama nodded, looking away from Yachi and back over to Hinata at the counter. Hinata wasn't paying them any attention anymore. Instead, he was focused on Kuroo, giving his taller coworker the best scowl he could manage (but Kageyama just thought it was cute). He couldn't hear what they were talking about, but he could tell that Hinata was frustrated—and that Kuroo was just laughing, giving Hinata a solid clap on his back and shoulder. Kageyama sighed and finished his no-longer-hot chocolate before taking his used dishes up to the counter to have them put in the wash.

"Oh—" Hinata blinked when Kageyama approached. He took the dishes off Kageyama's hands and passed them off to Kuroo. "Sorry about today. I hope the chocolate was good."

Kageyama inclined his head slightly, an attempt at a stiff nod. "Thanks."

"See you tomorrow, then?"

Kageyama gave another stiff incline of his head before he practically fled the cafe. Yachi watched, blinking before squeaking and getting back to work in her notebook. She had a deadline!

 

Hinata furrowed his brows, pouting. "He's so weird, Kuroo-san."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kuroo no


	5. kuroo and daichi at the gym

"Yo, Sawamura," Kuroo greeted the brunet as he walked into the gym.

"Kuroo." Daichi nodded at him, frowning just a little. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, gee, Sawamura, that's a tough one." Kuroo arched an eyebrow. "What could a guy possibly be doing at the _gym_?"

"Don't be a smart ass, Kuroo." Daichi knit his brows together. "You really only come here when something is bothering you."

"Awh, Sawamura, you _do_ care~." Kuroo grinned again, clapping Daichi on the back, walking toward the elliptical machines.

"In your dreams." Daichi rolled his eyes. "So, what happened this time? Get rejected? Girlfriend broke up with you?"

"Wow," Kuroo said. "I'm offended."

"By…?"

"The fact that you think I'm so shallow," Kuroo continued. "And the fact that we've been friends for two years and you haven't noticed by now that I'm gay as hell? After all we've been through together?"

"Oh—shit—" Daichi smacked the palm of his hand against his face. "Sorry, Kuroo—I was just—"

"I know." Kuroo gave Daichi a smile. "Don't worry about it."

"So, what is it…?"

"Well, a couple of things, I guess." Kuroo shrugged. "I don't want to bore you with my tales of woe."

Daichi arched his eyebrows at Kuroo. "You say that every time, you know. So, come on. Spit it out."

"Yes, dear." Kuroo laughed, mounting the elliptical with Daichi taking the one next to him.

"Don't call me that."

"Sure."

"So, what has you stressed enough to wander back in here?"

"No break between shitty classes and clueless lovesick children? Take your pick."

"…Lovesick children? Do I even want to know, Kuroo?"

"Not really," Kuroo said. "But I'm gonna tell you anyway."

"Of course you are." Daichi sighed.

"You know you love me, Sawamura."

"What."

 

Their banter went on like that for the next five minutes before Kuroo finally explained to Daichi what happened the day before. Kuroo downed a swig of water before wiping his brow with a sweat towel and taking a deep breath. Daichi, on the other hand, had barely broken a sweat and was going about twice as fast on the elliptical as Kuroo was. Rat bastard. Kuroo hated him for it. Okay, not really. Kuroo loved him for it. Daichi had to work for those damn thighs, after all. Those beautifully sculpted thighs. If Kuroo were the swooning type, he'd have hit the ground by then. But, thankfully, he was _not_ the swooning type, and therefore saved himself quite the humiliation because he didn't go falling off the damn elliptical going three miles an hour. If he were a religious man, he would have thanked God for that fact. Kuroo shook his head slightly, focusing back on the topic at hand.

"So, the poor guy comes home practically freaking out about these two, right?" Kuroo tries not to wheeze, as talking while running the elliptical was a pain in the goddamn ass. Damn Daichi for being so good at being athletic.

"Hinata? Is this about his two suitors?" Daichi tilted his head in Kuroo's direction.

"I dunno if I would actually call them _suitors_." Kuroo laughed, but it was breathless and he almost started coughing on what little air he had left.

Daichi handed him his water bottle. "Pause and breathe, Kuroo."

Kuroo took the water bottle and downed as much as he could without choking before taking big gulps of air. "I'm so out of shape, man."

"No kidding," Daichi said, pausing his own workout to focus on Kuroo as he struggled not to keel over. "So, Hinata and his fan club."

"Yeah. Poor kid." Kuroo wiped his face with his sweat towel and took another deep breath. "Once last month Hinata got so stressed out that I came home from Abnormal Psychology to find the kitchen practically drowning in muffins. There was like. More than a hundred goddamn muffins in the kitchen. _Blueberry_ muffins. Sawamura, he had mushed blueberries on his _face_ and he was like… Trying not to cry or some shit—like I have never seen a dude cry while baking blueberry muffins."

Daichi snorted. "So what did you do with the muffins?"

"Uh—you know, I'm not entirely sure what Hinata did with them," Kuroo said, tilting his head. "I did steal a few, though. Best damn blueberry muffins I've ever had before. One taste and it's like… I don't fuckin' know, man. Ambrosia of the Gods or some shit. I wish I'd stolen more."

"Damn. Better than the pastries at the cafe?" (Daichi, of course, already knew this, but Kuroo didn't need to know that Daichi knew. In fact, Daichi planned on keeping his 'parental' relationship with Hinata as secret as possible for as long as possible.)

Kuroo gave Daichi a deadpan stare. "Sawamura, dude, if Hinata wanted to sell his baked goods, he could put our cafe out business. He seriously could. I don't know why the hell he's a photography major when he could have gone to culinary school."

Daichi whistled, impressed with Kuroo's high recommendation of Hinata's cooking. He went back to his six mile an hour near-sprint on the elliptical and for half a second, Kuroo hated how fit Daichi was (but it was only half a second, because then the thought was wiped out by _damn, Sawamura's arms and thighs look good on that machine_ ). Daichi glanced back over at Kuroo with one eyebrow arched, and Kuroo swallowed. Did Daichi know what he was thinking? Fuck, Daichi totally knows. There goes all his cool factor. In order to heal his crumbling coolness, he got back on the elliptical. He had to be totally cool now, especially since Daichi apparently _knew_ that he had been ogling him—or at least _admiring_ his very nice arms and even nicer thighs. _Ahem_. Moving _on_.

"So—uh. How's that College Hunks Hauling Junk thing going for you?" Kuroo asked, still attempting to feign chill coolness as he tried to beat his three-mile-an-hour record on the elliptical. He was gonna go four! He would probably die. But he couldn't let Daichi know _just_ how out of shape he really was.

"Ugh." Daichi groaned, downing a gulp of water. "The pay is good. The tips are good. The worst, though, is when I have to come out for the little old ladies who need help to clean house."

"Little old ladies?" Kuroo almost laughed. But he didn't because he remembered last time he laughed on the elliptical machine, he nearly keeled over from choking.

"If you saw the places I have to go help haul junk out of." Daichi shook his head. "Sometimes these places look like they came from episodes of Extreme Hoarding or something."

"No shit?" Kuroo blinked, taking the time to give Daichi an incredulous look before downing some cold water and wiping sweat from his brow. "Damn. Shit sucks, man."

"That's not even the _worst_ of it." Daichi frowned. "Sometimes they want to touch my arms. And they talk about how I remind them of their grown up grandsons. And then they talk about how handsome I am—"

"Well, they're not _wrong—"_

Daichi cut Kuroo a disapproving look—and Kuroo could have _sworn_ there was just a hint of a blush on his face—before continuing. "And drop not-so-subtle hints about how they'd eat me up if they were just a couple decades younger."

"….Oh, _God_." Kuroo shuddered, making a gagging motion. "Dude, that's—that's kinda creepy, Sawamura."

"No kidding." Daichi _finally_ took his sweat towel and wiped his brow and neck. And he'd still barely broken a sweat. (Kuroo totally wasn't jealous at all.) "It's kind of terrifying at times? There have been times where I've wanted to hurry up and get the hell out of those houses."

They fell silent for a long while. The only noise that passed between them was that of the elliptical machines working. And Kuroo's panting. To his credit, he wasn't actually wheezing. He felt like he was probably going to die, though. Maybe he should go to the gym more often. Maybe he could go with Daichi. Make a kind of date out of it. Daichi would probably elbow him in the side so hard he'd keel over if he found out about any of Kuroo's ulterior motives. It would so be worth it. Not that Kuroo had too long to think about it, as Daichi picked up the conversation again (much to Kuroo's surprise).

"Kuroo, you never did tell me why you were _really_ here." Daichi glanced over at him again. "You just deflected to talk about your roommate's problems. You did make those muffins sound good, though."

"Eh…" Kuroo finished his bottle of water and slowed to a stop on the elliptical again. "I failed that philosophy test."

"Seriously? My roommate's in that class." Daichi looked thoughtful for a moment. "He didn't fail it—or at least he didn't mention failing it—but he did say it was a pretty hard test."

"Damn. So it wasn't just me." Kuroo mused. "Well, that makes me feel a little better. Even if your roommate lucked out and passed. Anyway, I'm gonna get out of here and go take a shower at home. Or a bath. A nice long soak sounds good. You wanna join? I've got bubble bath."

"…Kuroo, don't make me kick your ass."

Kuroo flashed Daichi his best playful grin before heading out of the gym, trying very hard to ignore the fact that his legs felt like jello.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY THIS IS A DAY LATE
> 
> THE SEMESTER STARTED AND I HAD TO ADD A CLASS LATE SO YESTERDAY I WAS PLAYING CATCH UP
> 
> I'M TAKING 15 CREDITS THIS SEMESTER PLEASE KILL ME


	6. kuroo fucked up and hinata is mad

Kuroo stumbled into the apartment dorm. He was lucky that Hinata had left it unlocked, since Kuroo probably would have fumbled and dropped his keys, and with his legs feeling less like jello and more like soggy noodles after his walk across campus from gym to apartment. He let the door slide shut behind him with a clacking sound. After a minute, Kuroo registered a tempting scent wafting into the hall from the kitchen. It smelled suspiciously of freshly baked goods and a hint of banana. What the—? Kuroo wobbled toward the kitchen like a snail with a bad limp. But hey, he'd just nearly died on the treadmill and then had to _walk across campus_. He was allowed to be sluggish, okay? Give him a break, jeez.

"Hinata—?" Kuroo peered his head around the corner into the kitchen before he wobbled all the way in. The sight of baking batter mixes, messy utensils, and food greeted Kuroo when he'd made it into the kitchen (without falling on his face, thank you very much). "…Hinata, are you okay?"

"What do you think?" Hinata pulled a tray out of the oven and set it on the stove to start cooling.

Kuroo watched him, blinking slowly. He looked around the kitchen and sighed, running his hands through his hair. About three dozen banana nut muffins crowded the kitchen. Hinata kept baking, though, despite the fact that there was really no counter space left for any more muffins. Clearly Hinata was _not_ okay, but Kuroo had asked purely on principle. He'd half expected Hinata to snap at him that he was fine and to leave him alone—even though it'd have been an obvious lie. Kuroo carefully made his way toward Hinata after dropping his bags by the kitchen entrance. He reached out to put his hand on Hinata's shoulder, in an attempt to be comforting, but Hinata nearly smacked him in the face when he swung around to point batter-covered whisk at his face like a deadly weapon. Kuroo backed off immediately, hands raised in a placating manner. He tried something he'd only ever tried once before when Hinata was high strung and a sobbing mess in their living room after a cafe disaster that followed a a catastrophe from his design theory class last semester. A nickname that hadn't been used in what felt like a thousand years. "What's the matter, Shou?"

Hinata almost hissed, waving the whisk at him and slinging muffin batter across the kitchen. "Don't you _dare_ 'Shou' me. Or try to placate me right now, Kuroo-san."

Kuroo backed up despite his aching calves and knees. He kept his hands in the air, blinking. "Easy there, Hinata… I'm sorry, okay? But talk to me? Please?"

Maybe saying his pretty pleases would get Hinata to loosen up and talk to him. Hinata waved his not-very-deadly weapon again, splattering some muffin batter across Kuroo's face. It was to Kuroo's credit that he didn't flinch. Hinata sucked in a breath before scowling at Kuroo (fortunately, Kuroo didn't mention that the scowl looked more like a cute pout than an angry scowl—Hinata would have kicked his ass with a batter-covered whisk).

"You know, just because I wasn't watching you talk to Yachi and Kageyama yesterday doesn't mean I couldn't hear you," Hinata said, setting the whisk down and crossing his arms. "I didn't ask for your help."

Ah—shit. "Sorry, Hinata."

"No. Don't you dare. Not yet. I'm not through with you."

Kuroo swallowed. "Hinata…?"

"How could you?" Hinata snarled. "I never asked for your help."

Kuroo wasn't sure what to say about that. Sure, Hinata hadn't asked, but still... Hinata was one of his closest friends—his roommate. Someone he looked out for as a semi-responsible older brother. Only semi-responsible. He'd just wanted to help. "I should have asked."

"Damn right you should have!" It wasn't usually in Hinata's character to swear like that. "You had no right to go and do that in front of me without my permission! Do you know how humiliating it is to know your friend doesn't think you can handle your problems on your own? You probably don't. Since when does Kuroo-san _ever_ need help with _anything_?"

"That's not fair, Hinata." Because damn, did Kuroo need a lot of help. A metric shit ton of help. Not that Kuroo would ask. His friends back home called it 'stubborn pride'.

"Yeah?" Hinata pointed a finger at Kuroo, stepping close enough to jab his fingertip into Kuroo's chest. "You know what's not fair? Your _friend_ trying to go fix your problems _behind your back_ because he thinks you can't do it yourself. Kuroo-san, I was going to work it out on my own, you know. I had everything under control. What did you think you were doing, anyway?"

"I just—… I didn't want _this—_ " Kuroo sighed, gesturing around the kitchen at all the banana nut muffins lying around and cooling. He ran a hand through his hair before wiping muffin batter off his face. "I didn't want this to happen again, Shou. You worry me when you get like this. It's like a compulsion."

"Compulsion?" Hinata hissed. " _Compulsion?_ I'll show _you_ compulsion! I'm staying at a friend's tonight. Apartment's all yours. Ass."

"Woah." Kuroo blinked, watching as Hinata packed up every single muffin except for the ones still rising in the oven and grabbed the box he put them in along with an overnight bag. He allowed himself to flinch when the door slammed behind Hinata, leaving Kuroo alone in a silence that seemed to echo through the suddenly empty apartment. Even the delicious smell of still-baking muffins in the oven that Hinata had seemingly forgotten about did nothing to console Kuroo in his time of soul-crushing guilt. Damn did Kuroo fuck up big time. He had one hell of a clean-up mess on his hands.

 

Kuroo sighed and rubbed his face before staring woefully at the oven that Hinata had left on, with one batch still baking inside the heat-radiating hell-mouth (Kuroo never had much luck with kitchen equipment—ovens were not his friends, nor microwaves nor toasters). He couldn't get in the bath and soak until the last batch of muffins finished and the oven timer went off. Because _wow_ Hinata must be really mad at him if he left unbaked muffins in the oven for Kuroo the Toast Burner take care of. Did he know those muffins might get burnt, ruined, potentially turned to ash? Probably. Kuroo's punishment, of course. Forced to live with another failure (god damn muffins) and endure the taste of ashen but crispy-crunchy muffins with the knowledge that if he hadn't fucked up so badly, he could have been enjoying perfectly baked, warm and fresh banana nut muffins that would make even gods and kings salivate. Oh, what could have been.

In order to keep the muffins from burning and setting off the very sensitive smoke detector in the apartment, Kuroo hung out near the kitchen after throwing his gym bag in the laundry and dropping his back pack on his bed—all of this was done after he'd kicked off his shoes for comfort's sake, of course. Kuroo continued to futz around the apartment aimlessly. He knew that if he sat down, he wouldn't be getting back up, and he _seriously_ needed a bath—or at least a quick shower before he collapsed and went comatose for the rest of the day. About fifteen minutes later, the oven finally dinged and Kuroo hobbled back into the kitchen to attempt saving the muffins from the hell beast known as the oven. How Hinata had tamed the heat-spewing monster, Kuroo never knew. But somehow, despite Kuroo's horrible fuck up, Lady Luck smiled upon him. He managed to get the muffins out of the oven and save them from being burnt to a crisp. They smelled heavenly, but Kuroo didn't dare partake in them—one, they were too hot, and two, he wasn't sure he was even _allowed_ to eat them. Hinata was still pissed, and if he ate one without Hinata's permission…

Well, Hell hath no fury. Kuroo would just leave it at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi my name is momo and it's the second week of my senior year at university
> 
> and i'm sick! woohoo!!!!!!!!!


	7. KUROO FINALLY GETS HIS BUBBLE BATH

After Kuroo had made sure the muffins had been safely put away where he wouldn't be tempted to sample them (and risk incurring more of Hinata's volatile wrath), he'd gathered up a pair of sweat pants, briefs, a towel, the bottle of bubble bath, and his phone (in case he got an important email from a professor or a message from a panicking classmate). Okay. And maybe to potentially listen to music while he soaked in the tub. It took him a little while to get everything ready, but when he did, it was bliss. Kuroo sighed out, a pleased and quickly relaxing sigh escaping his lips in an _aaaaahhhhh_ sound as he slipped into the steaming bubbly water. He didn't even mind the fact that the label on the bottle of bubble bath had lied to him. Light pink petals and vanilla chiffon icing his ass. There was a very faint scent of vanilla, but it wasn't really enough to be considered "vanilla chiffon icing." Bah. Oh well, the bath was so worth it. _So fucking worth it._ Kuroo sunk as low into the tub as he could, closing his eyes and settling down. He rested his feet on the edge of the tub, letting the warm, soapy water soak away all his aches and pains. He let the scented bath soothe away his guilt and frustrations. This must be what heaven felt like, Kuroo thought. Because there was no way a bath could feel _this_ good.

He never did take into consideration the pleasure of warm water soaking aching muscles with a faint, but pleasant scent tickling one's nose. Kuroo sank in the tub, arms hanging over the edges. He was a little too tall for the whole tub, so his fingers kind of brushed the floor and dripped water and bubbles onto the tile. Kuroo was completely convinced that there was nothing better on the entire earth. Absolutely nothing. Well, except maybe Hinata's cooking. Hinata's cooking was indeed the crown jewel of the planet. Kuroo was maybe eighty-five percent certain that Hinata was at least ten times better than that Gordon Ramsey guy or that Guy Fieri dude. Ah, now he felt bad for pissing Hinata off again… Kuroo sighed and lifted a hand, rubbing his face. Ah, but he knew how to cheer himself up a little. Even if it was just a teeny little distraction. Kuroo grinned and picked up his phone (he never did start any music—he'd forgotten to) and opened the camera app. He grinned at the camera, snapping a selfie with what he hoped was at least a marginally alluring expression (he just looked kind of… Awkward. Nervous.). He put the photo in a multimedia message and sent it off to whom he _thought_ was his best buddy from the gym (one Sawamura Daichi). It wasn't until after Kuroo had sent the message to the number that he realized… The number he'd sent it to was _not_ Daichi's number at all.

So now some stranger had by then received (and probably laughed) at Kuroo's awkward bubble bath selfie captioned with _"Are you sure you don't want to join me, Sawamura?"_ Kuroo had no idea who it had been sent to. No idea. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. _Fuck_. Now his cool reputation was probably ruined. The cheesy bubble bath selfie could probably already be making its rounds to everyone on campus. He had no idea of knowing otherwise! How was he supposed to know? His mind went a mile a minute and his heart pounded even faster. He had a reputation! What would become of him now?

Kuroo was so wrapped up in his internal panic that he paid little attention to much else. So when the phone beeped its alert tone at Kuroo to tell him he had an incoming message, he damn near had both a heart attack and a stroke right then and there. But then another dread crept into his stomach. The number that texted him was the number _he'd_ mistakenly messaged. Oh no. Kuroo swallowed the rising lump in his throat as he wiped his hand dry to open the text message. He never expected to see what he saw:

A stunning silver-haired stranger was smiling at him from the phone. He wasn't making a peace sign or anything in a stereotypical or cliche selfie. Actually, it looked like he had been in the middle of eating a muffin. A muffin that looked _suspiciously_ like the banana nut ones Hinata had baked before he bolted out of their shared apartment. But—Holy shit. _Was that Sawamura in the background with an apron on?_ Wait—he _cooks?_ How did Kuroo not know that? Hang on… Why was Daichi in a selfie of a stranger returning _his_ selfie? He managed to scroll down on his phone to get to the caption _without_ dropping th expensive electronic device in the bathtub. The message read _"Sorry, Daichi's a little busy at the moment. Maybe some other time?"_ And oh, shit. Kuroo fumbled with his phone, pulling up Daichi's number to text him.

 

**[From: Kuroo]**

INTRODUCE ME TO HIM

 

About a minute or so later, Kuroo's phone beeped again. Kuroo opened the text in near-white-knuckled apprehension.

 

**[From: Sawamura]**

Introduce yourself. He's in your philosophy class.

 

Silence. Another text.

 

**[From: Sawamura]**

You might not want to mention how you pissed off Hinata, though. Suga is a mom.

 

Awh, fuck. Kuroo sighed. Now that Daichi mentioned it, though… Kuroo looked back at the photo of this 'Suga' (this _angel_ ) sent him, and sure enough, there was a peek of bright orange hair in the selfie—it looked like Suga had one arm around Hinata. Well, shit. Chances blown right out of the water before they'd even officially met. So Suga was the friend that Hinata had run out on him to stay with. Kuroo groaned. That mean that Daichi knew about his fuck-up, too, huh? Damn, Kuroo was in for some serious trouble if Daichi and Suga turned out to be the 'protective parent' types. Oddly, Kuroo wanted to laugh. Because of _course_ his crush and his crush's gorgeous roommate would be the _parental_ types. Go figure, especially when Kuroo himself was ridiculously bad at being a parent-type. (He was more like… The fun uncle that the parents generally didn't want around because he was a "bad influence," whatever _that_ meant.)

Unexpectedly, Kuroo's phone beeped again.

 

**[From: Sawamura]**

Does this mean you're over your thing about me?

 

Kuroo's eyes widened. _Fuck_. (He's been thinking that a _lot_ lately.)

 

**[From: Kuroo]**

…You gonna hate me if I say no?

 

The phone didn't beep for another minute or two. Kuroo started to sweat, chewing on his lip. Silence was always bad in a case like this. To hell with the whole 'no news is good news' bullshit. Kuroo would have taken a flat out 'fuck off' over the silence he was enduring at that moment. The anticipation of whatever kind of reply he'd get from Daichi was eating him up inside and he wasn't sure if the bath had just gone cold while he was sitting there texting mindlessly or if the chill was just him being panicky and paranoid. Kuroo nearly dropped his phone when it beeped.

 

**[From: Sawamura]**

I feel a lot of things about you, Kuroo, but hate is not one of them.

 

Kuroo wasn't sure what to feel. Sick? Giddy? Bewildered? He had no idea, but a little tiny piece of him wanted to leap for joy because _Daichi didn't hate him_. Daichi did not hate him. There was still hope—but what about this strange new feeling about the very sight of Daichi's gorgeous roommate by name of Suga? Who, according to Daichi, was such a mom that he warned Kuroo about Suga finding out about his role in pissing Hinata off so badly. (It should be worth mentioning that Hinata has never actually run out on Kuroo and has never spent the night at someone else's apartment or dorm—though he did fall asleep in the library once.) Still—… Play it cool, Kuroo. Play it totally cool.

 

**[From: Kuroo]**

Oh yeah? What do you feel about me, Sawamura?

 

**[From: Sawamura]**

Usually? Dread.

 

**[From: Kuroo]**

How rude. Hey, tell your roommate he's cute for me. ;3

 

**[From: Sawamura]**

And now I'm feeling exasperation.

 

**[From: Kuroo]**

Awh. You know you love me. Tell him I said you're both cute. ;33

**[From: Sawamura]**

Fuck you. Tell him yourself.

 

Kuroo laughed at Daichi's sudden use of expletives. He must have really pushed some buttons. He reread the text with a smile, intending on saving the conversation for posterity's sake when he realized Daichi had essentially told him to "man up." Shit, seriously? Why the hell would Kuroo do something like that? Maybe he would. Tomorrow. In person. Maybe before philosophy. Or after. Maybe never.

 

**[From: Sawamura]**

And stop insisting I love you. Idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I promised [Aija](http://archiveofourown.org/users/saunatonttu/) that I'd post the bubble bath chapter for her if she survived her first week of the semester. 
> 
> Seriously, though, don't get used to twice-weekly posts. I don't have enough time to write for that LOL


	8. hinata stays with suga and daichi for a bit

"Who keeps texting you, Daichi?" Suga leaned back in the couch to tilt his head and look at Daichi who was still cooking. "You're being awfully chatty from the sound of it."

"Oh, hush, Suga." Daichi huffed, stirring vegetables in the pan and seasoning them—hoping his phone would stay quiet for a little while so he could at least finish dinner for Suga and Hinata (Hinata had offered to cook, but Suga was having absolutely _none_ of that because Hinata was their _guest_ and guests don't do work, or something like that). "It's Kuroo, by the way."

"Kuroo…" Suga looked thoughtful as he played with his sunshine child's hair. "Hinata's roommate. And he's the cute one from my philosophy class. The psych major."

"He's a dumb butt." Hinata grumbled, leaning into Suga's soothing touches.

"He's cute, though. And apparently likes bubble baths." Suga hummed quietly, giving Daichi a playful grin. "Shame about the bubbles being in the way. I think I'm going to save his number, Daichi."

Daichi snorted and Hinata made a gurgle-y, scandalized sound.

"He said to tell you that you're cute, Suga. I told him to tell you himself."

"Aw." Suga smiled. "How sweet of him. Hey, Daichi, do you want to see the selfie? It was meant for you~. Has your name and everything."

"No thank you."

"Too late. I'm already forwarding it to your phone."

"You two are gross," Hinata said, pouting. "Aren't you both, like, married or something?"

"So?" Suga asks with a smile, giving his pouting sunshine child a kiss on the head while ruffling his hair. "If your roommate is as sincere about thinking I'm cute as he is about drooling over Daichi at the gym, I don't see why we shouldn't give him a chance."

Hinata groaned, resting his head on Suga's shoulder. "I'm gonna have to move into another dorm, aren't I? Kuroo-san is never gonna shut up if you let him in, you know, and I have to live with him!"

"I'm sorry, Hinata." Suga laughed. "But you really _are_ mad at him. What did he do, Hinata?"

"He got involved…" Hinata mumbled. "I didn't ask for his help and he tried to give it anyway. He talked to Yachi and Bakageyama while I was standing there and thought I couldn't hear him. I didn't want his help. I was gonna take care of it myself, Suga-san! I had everything under control!"

"Ah…" Suga nodded sagely, kissing Hinata's head again. "Hinata, we love you. And I understand. But it sounds to me like your roommate was worried about you."

"He had no reason to be…" Hinata huffed and puffed, crossing his arms over his chest and sticking his lower lip out in a pout. He drummed his fingers against his upper arms, otherwise he would have been digging his nails into his skin, and neither Suga nor Daichi would have appreciated that (they worry about their baby sunshine, after all). "He got involved and I didn't want him to."

"Hinata…" Suga sighed. He smiled and gestured to the piles of muffins on the coffee table. "I think Kuroo had every right to be worried, kiddo. Remember the blueberry muffins? When Kageyama and Yachi both wanted you to be their models for separate projects for separate classes?"

"…yeah, I remember…" Hinata whined. "But I didn't want his help, I just wanted him to listen to me vent so I could feel better and collect myself enough to confront them on my own. And, like, Suga-san, he didn't even ask me for permission or if I even wanted help in the first place, he just—acted. On his own. Being all sneaky like at the cafe _right in front of me!_ "

Suga nodded and ran his fingers through Hinata's hair, humming softly. "So that's why you're here with delicious muffins and practically glued to my hip?"

"Instead of at home making sure that dumb ass doesn't starve to death?" Daichi added to Suga's question. Because everyone that Kuroo was friends with knew for a fact that Kuroo was never the best of cooks. Instant noodles, microwave dishes… Simple, easy. Quick. Things that didn't really require any special talent. Those were the kinds of things Kuroo made when he was forced to fend for himself and didn't have anyone to cook for him. It was never all that pretty of a sight to behold.

"He'll live one night." Hinata grumbled. "I'll deal with him tomorrow…"

"Okay, okay." Suga smiled. "You can sleep in my room tonight, Hinata."

Hinata snorted and Daichi scratched his cheek awkwardly. He knew what Hinata was gonna say, so he braced for it.

"I don't see why you have your own room anyway, Suga-san," Hinata said, puffing. "You're practically already hitched, I mean…"

Suga actually laughed. "Even we have our fights, Hinata. But really, I think it's more your room now than it is my room."

"I don't want to think about you two fighting." Hinata pouted at Suga. "That's just wrong."

"Well, it happens." Suga carded his fingers through Hinata's hair gently. "But we won't talk about it now. Not when you're here and need some comfort and kisses."

"Eeeewww." Hinata squirmed. "No kisses."

Suga laughed and nosed Hinata's cheek before repeatedly kissing Hinata's face with the enthusiasm of an affectionate mother. Hinata squirmed, whining at the unsolicited affection from his dear friend Suga. His whining cut off with a breathless guffaw of laughter when Suga decided to start tickling his sides while still pressing affectionate kisses to Hinata's cheeks, nose, forehead, and every other part of Hinata's face that Suga could get any access to. Hinata wailed and whined and wheezed as Suga tickled him mercilessly.

"Suga-san!" Hinata whined. "Please stop! I can't breathe! Please!"

After a minute or two more, Suga finally relented, laughing with Hinata. He ruffled Hinata's messy hair and leaned away from him so Hinata didn't get any ideas about swatting at him--he knew better than to try, but just in case all the laughter had deprived Hinata of oxygen and prevented him from thinking clearly.

"Alright, you two, that's enough," Daichi said as he sat down in between Hinata and Suga, setting a tray on the coffee table. The tray held three plates of dinner, one for each of them, and Daichi distributed them accordingly (Hinata's plate was bright orange with black little cartoon crows printed all over the surface--so they never forgot which plate was Hinata's and never accidentally used it for anything else).

"Awh, but Daichi, we were having so much fun." Suga smiled and leaned over, kissing Daichi's cheek. Daichi, in turn, leaned into the affection.

"Suga-san is so mean to me." Hinata pouted, taking his plate from Daichi and started eating slowly. He didn't quite pick at his food but he wasn't wolfing it down like he usually did. Nothing was wrong with him, of course. He was just trying to catch his breath after Suga had led an all out assault on his sensitive nerves.

"I am not," Suga said, poking his fork at Hinata with a smile.

Daichi gently swatted Suga's fork away from Hinata, giving his roommate-slash-unofficial-husband a stern look. Hinata stuck his tongue out at Suga while Daichi was distracted. Once Daichi was no longer paying attention to Suga, Hinata immediately sat up straighter and went back to eating, feigning innocence as best he could. Daichi rolled his eyes and smiled, ruffling Hinata's hair and giving him a kiss to his head, much like Suga had done (except, of course, without smothering him or turning him into a giggling, wheezing mush by way of tickling the poor sunshine child). Hinata made a sound in the back of his throat at the kiss (because eeewwwww kisses from your parents).

"So, Kuroo made a fool of himself, did he?" Daichi asked Hinata.

"...I wanna beat his face with a pillow," Hinata mumbled with his mouth full of food. "At least once... That's all. So he knows how dumb he is, maybe."

Daichi laughed. "Oh, trust me, Hinata, he knows how dumb he is. But he means well."

"I know..." Hinata sighed, nibbling on his dinner as he curled into Daichi's side, the way he had with Suga while Daichi had been cooking. "Hey... Daichi, when are you going to give me the recipe for this...?"

"When you give me your recipe for the blueberry muffins." Daichi laughed again.

"...Over my dead body." Hinata pouted, stuffing his mouth full of more rice and vegetables and muffling his words.

The matter was no longer up for any kind of discussion. Hinata was not about to reveal his culinary secrets. Especially not to mean dads who tickle you and make you want to apologize for practically beating your dumb stupid roommate in the head with a whisk. (Not that Kuroo didn't deserve it, because he so totally _did._ )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school murders me
> 
> i may not post again in a while because 
> 
> i am a crazy person that's taking 15 credits just to be able to graduate on time i'm gonna cry so much work to do
> 
> _save me_


	9. daichi and suga have a "secret" (not really)

It was the morning after Hinata had spent the night with Daichi and Suga. Daichi and Suga were doing some weird ritual dancing in the kitchen and the smell of breakfast wafted into the open bedroom where Hinata was still snoozing away. His nostrils twitched _a la_ silly children's cartoon. Hinata stirred and pried his eyes open, sniffing the air slowly. He yawned and stretched, rubbing his face as he crawled out of bed and slowly padded his way into the main room of the apartment, blindly feeling his way around, since he'd yet to open his eyes. Hinata didn't bother opening his eyes until he'd nearly broken his toes on Suga's steel-and-glass coffee table. Cue the surprised string of expletives. Daichi and Suga looked up at the same time to see Hinata bouncing on one foot and nursing a throbbing toe. And whining.

"Hinata?" Suga left Daichi's side as soon as he'd noticed Hinata was in pain. "Are you okay, Hinata?"

"I'm okay…" Hinata squeaked, sitting down on the floor and poking at his toe, wincing every time he did. "I think… I think I'm gonna lose my toenail…"

"Oh, no…" Suga gently pat Hinata's head before going off and searching for his first aid kit. He returned quickly, settling down at Hinata's side and setting to work helping Hinata take care of his little injury. "Daichi, darling, put a hold on breakfast. We need to wrap Hinata's toes. He got himself really good on the edge of my table."

"I told you that table was as a bad idea, Suga," Daichi said, turning off the stove and setting breakfast aside so it wouldn't burn. He looped the apron over his head so he could go take care of Suga and Hinata without being hindered by a large singular piece of fabric. "How many times have you nearly broken your own toes on that damn thing?"

"Fine, fine," Suga huffed at Daichi. "We'll get rid of it, if you want to so badly, but right now we have a crisis."

"…Uhm…" Hinata blinked between Daichi and Suga. "…It's not really a crisis…? Can't you just give me some painkillers and slap a band aid on it?"

"No, we can't." Suga tapped him on the nose. "We'll get it wrapped up and you should put some ice on it for a little bit."

Daichi rolled his eyes slightly. Once Suga was done babying Hinata with the first aid kit, he scooped him up off the floor and placed him on the couch (because Suga would scold him otherwise). "Can I go back to finishing breakfast now, Suga? You're like a living Snickers commercial. You get persnickety when you're hungry, you know."

"Rude, Daichi!" Suga huffed at him. "Very rude."

Hinata curled up on the couch and leaned over the edge of the back of the couch so he could watch Suga and Daichi return to the kitchen. He watched them go back about their strange dance around each other in the kitchen, preparing something that smelled heavenly but concerned Hinata. He scrunched his nose up in a vaguely disgusted manner. "You two are gross. What is that, some sort of mating ritual dance? Are you consorting with some pagan gods to be blessed with a child or something? Whose first born are you going to steal and sacrifice to the dark goddess of the earth?"

Suga paused and blinked at Hinata as if he'd grown two extra heads. His eyes were wide and jaw hanging slack. He still had a hand on Daichi's shoulder. What an unexpected outburst from a seemingly innocent child. Suga was going to have to reevaluate whether or not Hinata was an innocent sunshine child or secretly some devilish heathen. (Then again, he could be _both_ …)

Daichi, on the other hand, burst out laughing, tightening his arm around Suga's waist. "Well, it can't be your first born because then it'd take us ten thousand years."

" _Daichi_." Suga pinched Daichi, pouting up at him before breaking into an unmanly giggle. "He doesn't need to know our dark black magic secrets, you know. We'd be a bad influence if we let him get involved in the most dangerous occult."

"And you spend too much time in the occult section of the library," Daichi whispered in Suga's ear.

"…You two are really weird." Hinata huffed. He got up off the couch and hopped over to the kitchen. "I'm gonna eat and get dressed aaaannnddd…."

"And what?" Suga arched his eyebrow slightly.

Hinata checked his phone to see exactly what day it was and when his next class was. "And then I'm going to book my ass over to the art building because Color Theory is in like an hour and a half. I still have to shower, too! I'm so screwed!"

"Well, you can use our shower, but don't get those bandages wet, Hinata!" Suga raised his voice just slightly at the end of his statement as Hinata had already started hopping his way back into Suga's room to get his clothes and go take his much needed shower. Suga sighed and shook his head, leaning on Daichi. He flinched when he heard a crash and a squawk, signaling some Hinata-centric disaster in the bathroom. "Should we…?"

"Don't worry, Suga," Daichi said, running his fingers through Suga's hair. "He's okay. You know how he is. He's fine and he'd get all pouty if you tried to baby him any more than you already have. Now, let's finish breakfast so he can have something to eat before he bolts across campus to the art department. And so you can eat something so that we can put that hunger demon that's taken over my boyfriend to rest, hm?"

"Daichi is so mean to me." Suga pouted up at Daichi. The pout quivered and melted away when Daichi dipped down and stole a kiss from him, nipping lightly on Suga's bottom lip—causing Suga's heart to leap into his chest and his fingers to curl into Daichi's apron. Suga pushed gently on Daichi's chest, pulling back from his kiss. "Daichi… We can't…"

"Just one more?" Daichi never whined. This time was no exception. (Okay, he totally whined.)

"No…" Suga tapped Daichi's lips with his fingertip. "It's too early in the morning… And Hinata is still here. And _you_ have that Cyber Culture class today. So we can't until tonight. Provided Hinata decides to go home. Or if we can convince him to go home."

Daichi huffed and kissed Suga's cheek before finishing breakfast. "Damn that Cyber Culture class. And you still have philosophy. With dumb ass Kuroo."

"Ah, yes, the cute one with the bubble bath and the lopsided grin." Suga hummed, clearing off a spot of the counter and hoisting himself up to sit on it. He took his portion of breakfast and started to eat, with both dainty and somewhat exaggerated movements.

Daichi groaned, rolling his eyes before kissing Suga's cheek. "You're the one that told me to stop, so don't start tempting me now. Tease."

Suga just gave Daichi an innocent smile (which he didn't believe for a moment) before saying, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Daichi."

Daichi didn't believe that for a second, either. He shook his head and started eating his own breakfast.

 

Neither of them were all that surprised (or startled) when Hinata rushed by them, stumbling into his shoes and stealing his share of the breakfast before disappearing out the door, presumably running late to his Color Theory class (that Daichi and Suga both knew he shared with his competing suitors, Kageyama and Yachi). They silently wished him luck together before going back to making themselves comfortable and eating their breakfast until there was nothing left.

"I get the shower first," Daichi said, disappearing from the kitchen and headed to the shower. He left his last thought unvoiced: Suga always took ridiculously long showers.

"Hey! Rude!" Suga called after Daichi. He knew exactly what Daichi did not say. He gave Daichi a squawk before he was out of earshot and attempted to throw a sugar packet at Daichi. It hit him in the shoulder as he was turning the corner, but if he'd been standing still, Suga would have gotten him square in the head. Still, Suga did take _some_ satisfaction in the fact that he'd at least hit Daichi, even if it was with something as small and flimsy as a sugar packet. He set to work cleaning up the kitchen from the mess Daichi made while cooking breakfast. He needed something to do while Daichi took his quick shower, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> coming up on the last couple of chapters that I have written so updates will be very slow and sporadic starting in like 2 weeks
> 
> is it december yet i want this semester to be over


	10. kuroo walks into a trap

"You're late," Kageyama said.

"I know." Hinata wheezed as he crashed into his chair at his empty easel. "What are we working on today?"

"Why are you late?" Kageyama frowned at Hinata. He hadn't been making a statement of Hinata being late—he'd been asking him why.

"Oh—I was at Daichi's and Suga's." Hinata rifled through his things for his color theory book. "My roommate pissed me off so I spent the night there."

"…Your roommate…?" Kageyama asked, handing Hinata a sheet of paper detailing the day's lesson. "The one at the coffee shop?"

"Yes, that one," Hinata hissed at Kageyama, frowning as he snatched the lesson plan. "The one who _meddled_ with you and Yachi when I was going to talk to you myself about it."

"…Oh." Kageyama shuffled, looking away. "Sorry. I didn't mean…"

"I'm not angry with you…" Hinata sighed, settling down. He looked over the lesson plan and frowned. "Why are the easels out if we're not using them?"

"Last class filed out without putting them away." Kageyama poked his easel, watching it wobble dangerously. "And the professor left. Should we put these away?"

"Maybe…" Hinata sighed and got up. "I'm tired and sore and I stubbed my toe on Suga's stupid designer table. Even Daichi thinks it's a stupid table."

"I'll get your easel." Kageyama huffed, getting up and folding up the giant metal monstrosities, taking them one by one to the storage closet. "Dumb ass Hinata."

"Hey!" Hinata threw his kneaded eraser at Kageyama (he clearly got this tendency to throw things from Suga). "I might lose a toenail and you're calling me a dumb ass? You're the dumb ass, dumb ass! Bakageyama is an insensitive jerk."

"Hey!!" Kageyama snapped back, pointing his finger menacingly at Hinata. "I put your easel away for you so you didn't have to get up! How is that insensitive?!"

"You called me a dumb ass!"

"Because you stubbed your toe! I bet you weren't looking where you were running. You're so typical!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"That you're careless and get hurt all the time for no reason." Kageyama picked up Hinata's kneaded eraser and threw it back at him. It pinged off Hinata's forehead (resulting in a pained whine).

"He means that you make people care about you and then get mad at them for worrying," Yachi said, coming up behind Hinata and patting his shoulder gently. "It's not your fault, though. You don't know the effect you have on people. It's kind of cute, actually."

Hinata was about to bristle, but with Yachi's hand on his shoulder, giving him a light squeeze, he couldn't help but relax. "…I'm sorry, Bakageyama."

"Tch." Kageyama crossed his arms as he sat back down next to Hinata. "…It's fine."

"No, it's not…" Hinata sighed. He rubbed his forehead where Kageyama had pinged him with the kneaded eraser. "I shouldn't be taking out my anger on you, Kageyama. Sorry. Suga was right. I should probably go home and apologize to Kuroo-san later, too… Man, now I feel really awful."

"As long as you understand." Yachi smiled and kissed Hinata's cheek.

Hinata sat up straight, shoulders and back rigid. His cheeks burned. He never imagined he'd experience something like that—it had only been a few days since the fiasco at the coffee shop, and he himself hadn't gotten a chance to deal with either Kageyama or Yachi on his own before Kuroo intervened (without his permission, _thank you very much_ ). To Hinata's credit, he didn't squawk in disbelief or whatever. He did fidget and twiddle his thumbs, though. And babble incoherently. Kageyama made a disgruntled sound in the back of his throat, though. Yachi giggled and patted Kageyama on the head, giving him a kiss on the cheek, too. It worked like a charm—Kageyama stopped looking like Wile E. Coyote after the Road Runner escaped one of his elaborate traps. Yachi giggled and Hinata gave Kageyama a smug little smirk. Kageyama kicked Hinata's shin (lightly, of course—he didn't want to hurt Hinata, after all).

"That was entirely unnecessary, Bakageyama," Hinata said, pouting. "And it hurt."

"What, do you want me to kiss it better?" Kageyama scowled at Hinata.

"Ew, gross, no." Hinata stuck his tongue out at Kageyama. "Kisses are gross."

He was, of course, only playing—he didn't mind them all that much. (Sometimes he thought about kissing both of them, but they were his best friends and that was gross. He may still have some issues about crushing on his best friends.) They were interrupted from any further discussion and banter when the professor finally walked in, forcing them to settle down in their seats and wait for instruction. Yachi, however, still got a giggle in, as her two boys were ridiculous sometimes. Okay, they were ridiculous _most_ of the time. The rest of the classroom chatter died down, too, effectively cutting off any whispering about the threesome and their shenanigans. It was a good thing two of the three were mostly oblivious to the potentially insidious nature of Campus Rumors.

 

Philosophy was starting soon. Kuroo fidgeted at the door, running his hands through his hair and occasionally checking his reflection on his phone's sleep screen. He totally wasn't freaking out about actually trying to _meet_ Daichi's roommate today. Nope, no way. How could he be freaking out when he was one cool cat? The coolest of cool cats, in fact! He had everything in hand and he totally would _not_ flop and chicken out. He was gonna introduce himself (formally) and take Daichi's words to heart and tell the mysterious Suga that he was cute. He never stood a chance.

"You know, we _are_ allowed to wait in the classroom for the professor…"

Kuroo jumped out of his skin, shrieking. How had he not heard that person come up behind him? Oh. Right. He was too busy trying to convince himself that he was totally cool with just waltzing up to a veritable stranger and telling him he was cute. He turned around to face the stranger that scared the shit out of him, but his breath caught in his throat. Oh, _shit_. There he was—no stranger at all, and even more stunningly beautiful than that silly cell phone selfie with Daichi in the background wearing an apron. Daichi's roommate, Suga. His philosophy classmate, Sugawara.

 _He was so not ready for this. Shitshitshit—_ "Oh—yeah, I know—I was just—"

Suga gave Kuroo a smile—somehow eerily knowing and playful while still maintaining innocence (because how could such a person be anything _but_ innocent?). "Waiting for me?"

 _Fuck_. He took it back. Suga was definitely not innocent. Anything and everything but innocent. Conniving little vixen. This was gonna be hell. How was he supposed to blurt out that Suga was cute when he was looking at him like _that_. Like he was a challenge to be conquered—something delicious to sink his teeth into. But still somehow looking… Sweet? Innocent (yeah, _right_ ). Whatever that odd look was, it may or may not have turned Kuroo on. Wow, philosophy was going to be so goddamn _hard_ today.

…

No pun intended. Of course. _Fuck_.

"N-no… I wasn't—uhm."

"You were! I knew it." Suga smiled again. He patted Kuroo's back gently. "That's so cute—I told Daichi when you sent that text to me on accident. That was a cute smile, you kn—"

Suga's and Kuroo's phones beeped simultaneously, interrupting Suga's little speech. They blinked at each other before laughing—though Kuroo's laugh was awkward and self-conscious, and his face burned red (hey, Suga had beat him to his own goal, calling him cute—and twice!!) while Suga's laugh was a light, almost tinkling sound. Moment ruined by simultaneous messages. Suga pulled his phone out and checked the message while Kuroo was still standing there trying to get his brain circuits working again. Suga pat Kuroo's shoulder again. "And it looks like we have a last minute cancellation. We're free from philosophy today."

That got Kuroo functioning again. He blinked several times and grinned. "Freedom? Fuckin' sweet!"

Suga just laughed again. "Someone's excited."

"Hell yeah!" Kuroo resisted the urge pump his fist in the air. His reputation was already shattered—he didn't need to make it break any more than he already had. "I mean, I didn't exactly do the homework, so…"

"And you're not gonna do it now, either," Suga said, grinning at Kuroo. "Are you?"

"Nope."

"Great. Coffee?"

Kuroo made a non-committal _eeeeehhhh_ noise. "Not university coffee. If you're askin' me on a date, Suga, we're not going where I _work_."

"Who said anything about a date, Kuroo?" Suga gave Kuroo another one of his mysterious innocent-yet-carnivorous grins.

"Aw, hell."

 

What the hell had Kuroo gone and gotten himself into this time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY LOOK ITS AN UPDATE


	11. suga takes kuroo on a "date" (it's really not)

As it turned out, a "date" with Suga was… Well, Kuroo hadn't expected to get lunch from the university grocery store and then end up hidden away in a private library study room. Of course they'd land one of those—Suga practically ran the whole library. Again, some "date." He felt like he was in an interrogation room about to play good-cop-bad-cop but he was the suspect and Suga was the only cop. Seriously, what the hell had Kuroo gotten himself into? He fidgeted awkwardly, picking at his rice and vegetables (he was still broke as hell and wasn't about to ask for any kind of hand out—even though Suga had tried to offer).

"So. Kuroo—Tetsurou, was it?"

Kuroo immediately sat up straighter, shoulders squared back and eyes wide. Shit—why was Suga suddenly addressing him by his given name? Aw hell, was Suga some kind of black widow or something? Kuroo could already see his uneventful life flashing before his eyes. Of course Suga would be a man-eater. He was too beautiful to be an innocent human. And Daichi? Probably the muscle that kept the heat off Suga himself.

"Uhm. Yeah." Kuroo fidgeted, slipping some rice and vegetables into his mouth, keeping his gaze away from the tempting possible murderous siren sitting across from him. "Uh. Tetsu's fine, if you'd rather use that…"

"Tetsu. Cute." Suga smiled, sipping his tea. "Like the selfie you sent Daichi. My boyfriend."

Oh. Fuck. Shit. Damn. Kuroo was so going to hell. He was a home wrecker! He let out an almost strangled sound. "I'm sorry!"

Suga blinked at the almost cowed response. He laughed softly and reached across the small table, patting Kuroo's cheek. "Don't be. You're not in any trouble, Tetsu."

"Wait—" Kuroo blinked. "What? I'm not? But—I'm not a home wrecker…?"

"I brought you here, didn't I?" Suga just kept laughing. "Tetsurou, Daichi's fond of you. And I know you're fond of him— _very_ fond of him, since you're sending him selfies where the only thing concealing your nudity is a mountain of soap bubbles."

Kuroo choked on a mouthful of rice. He slammed on his chest to try and breathe again. Suga laughed softly, a good-natured, tinkling sound that Kuroo found himself falling in love with all over again. Well— falling in love for the first time. He was in like after that selfie and their brief interaction at the philosophy classroom door.

But— Wait—

"…Sawamura is fond of me?" Kuroo asked, bewildered, once he'd recovered the ability to breathe. He'd honestly though that Daichi was constantly annoyed with him, and only tolerated him because they saw each other fairly regularly.

"Oh, honey." Suga gave Kuroo a smile, almost sympathetic. "You have no idea."

Kuroo's cheeks burned all the way down his neck. He swallowed, making that cliched gulping sound. "Seriously?"

"Barring myself and Hinata-kun, you're probably one of his favorites," Suga said, letting out another one of his soft, tinkling laughs. "Not that he would _ever_ say so himself. Or even think it. He's… I guess, shy like that."

"I—" Kuroo fidgeted in his seat. "A favorite? Really?"

"Uh-huh." Suga reached across the table and and stole some of Kuroo's rice. "He was all flushed and flustered when he came home from the gym and recounted how you teased him. And how you practically drooled over him."

"…Well shit." Kuroo covered his face with his hands. "Was I really that obvious?"

"Daichi's not oblivious, you know. And he gets it enough from me to be able to tell when someone else is—" Suga paused, running his tongue over his teeth as thought of how to say his next words. "Undressing him with their eyes."

Kuroo whined softly as his head sank to the table, cheeks burning. He let out a slight groan. "I wasn't…"

"Uh-huh." Suga covered his mouth, hiding his smile and muffling his giggle. "Sure. You totally weren't imagining his thighs underneath his gym shorts. Or the muscles under his t-shirt. Or _perhaps_ what they'd feel like if you touched them?"

Kuroo bolted, sitting up straight. "How do you—"

Suga arched a neatly done eyebrow, and Kuroo knew immediately how Suga knew what he'd been thinking (and feeling). Daichi had gotten Suga, too. Of course he had—Suga and Daichi _were_ dating.

"Never mind." Kuroo shrank in his seat again, thoroughly embarrassed.

"Daichi doesn't quite realize the effect he has on people." Suga smiled at his withering companion. "And he teases me for being the captivating one."

"Well—" Kuroo stopped himself, biting down on his tongue to keep from saying his next words.

"Hm~?"

"I mean—He's not—" Kuroo paused, swallowing. "He's not _wrong_ …"

Suga just laughed, and Kuroo's face burned again. Jeez. Suga was going to murder him. Kill him with beauty or something. Maybe he ought to say something, since clearly Daichi _hadn't_. Unless Suga was doing this to him on purpose. Which Kuroo would believe in a heartbeat because Suga was _evil_. He only _looked_ innocent. But somehow—somehow Kuroo couldn't bring himself to care about what he was getting himself into. In fact, Kuroo was pretty sure he would willingly delve into a Dantean hellscape for the chance to get himself into whatever it was he was getting into with Daichi and Suga.

Kuroo took a breath before, "Something tells me Sawamura says the same thing about you…"

"He says as much _to_ me." Suga snorted. "The difference between Daichi and myself is that I _know_ that I tend to distract people, whether I want to or not. Daichi has no idea he's desirable. He thinks he's your average, somewhat reliable guy with no real redeeming qualities excepthis reliability."

"…Seriously?" Kuroo frowned. "Is he self-conscious or something…?"

"Mmn…" Suga tilted his head, shifting his gaze away from Kuroo, looking thoughtful. "I suppose that's a word for it. He has, in the past, asked me why I'm with him—what I see in him and the like. He doesn't go out to the gym out of vanity, you know. It's practical for him—his job requires him to lift those heavy objects, so he has to stay in shape."

"Yeah—he mentioned the other day about the little old ladies and shit."

Suga giggled, covering his mouth. "Ah—yeah. I tease him about that all the time. And yet he still refuses to believe he's in any way someone somebody would want."

Kuroo huffed slightly. "How do you get him to chill and not question why you're with him?"

"Well—" Suga stopped short with an amused, devilish little smile. "Are you sure you want to know the answer to that, Tetsurou?"

"Actually—you know what—never mind. I don't want to know." Kuroo leaned back in his chair to put a little distance between them—which was highly unusual for him, as he was always invading other people's spaces.

"Wise decision," Suga said, laughing that fairy-like sound. "But, back to the original point."

"Uh oh."

"Oh, relax." Suga smiled. "You're not in trouble, I already told you. Besides—Daichi told me you thought I was cute~."

…

Well, shit.

"…He told me to tell you myself—I didn't think he'd actually tell you…"

"That's Daichi, for you. But he tells me everything—we have no secrets with each other."

"…Scary. I guess I should behave?"

"Do you know how?"

"… Nope."

"Good. We like _you_. We want to give _you_ a chance." Suga held out his hand for Kuroo. "Not a version of you that _isn't_ you. You'd be miserable if you had to play pretend for us."

"Shit—really?"

"Really, Tetsurou."

Kuroo awkwardly took Suga's hand, unsure of what else to do, but not wanting to leave Suga hanging. Suga smiled up at him and pulled Kuroo's hand closer and kissed the back of it. Kuroo's face burned and he made an awkward squawking sound (not unlike the ones that Hinata makes often). Suga only laughed, still giving Kuroo his light, easy smile.

Kuroo was too far gone to care that he was falling deep, deep into Hell.

In fact, he embraced it wholeheartedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> muffled screaming in the distance


	12. coffee shop shenanigans, and suga is not as innocent as he seems

"Here, Daichi," Hinata said, smiling as he handed over the steaming hot cup of coffee. "You look like you need it—anthropology killing you again?"

"I think Suga took Kuroo out on a date." Daichi grumbled, sipping the coffee without even flinching at the hot liquid.

Hinata's eyebrows shot up to his hairline, mouth hanging just slightly agape. "No kidding. When was this?"

"Earlier. Maybe now. He said philosophy got canceled and he was going out with Kuroo." Daichi huffed. "And he didn't even ask me if I wanted to go with him."

"…If this was during philosophy, you were in an anthro class, weren't you?" Hinata tilted his head, lips curling upward at the corners into a sly smile. "Daichi, you wouldn't have skipped class to go on a _date_. You're too straight laced for that. You're like—Mr. Reliable."

"I know that!" Daichi totally wasn't pouting. "But he still could have asked, y'know?"

"You poor thing." Hinata laughed. "I'll get you a scone, okay? You'll feel better."

The bell on the door chimed, signaling it opening. Voices drowned it out soon, though—well, mostly one voice. Kuroo loudly grousing was enough to drown out most any sound—except maybe a train wreck or an explosion. Or the collective moaning of students suffering across campus during finals week, but those were all neither here nor there. Hinata snorted. "Or, you know, the source of all your woes could walk right through the front door. Oi, Kuroo-san, you told me like a week ago you were gonna start showing up on time so you could serve coffee to Daichi—and I believe you mentioned the gods sculpted him?"

Kuroo squawked much like Hinata did sometimes, face burning (again). "Christ, Hinata, could you _be_ any louder?!"

"Yes, in fact, I could." Hinata smiled at Kuroo. "Would you like me to be?"

"God, no."

Suga giggled, finally revealing his presence amongst the bantering idiots and Daichi's moping.

"Great. The traitor's here." Daichi grumbled into his coffee. (It should be noted that, by now, Daichi's face had turned a nice shade of red at knowing exactly how Kuroo thought of him—or, at least, thought of his body. He was highly flattered, but very much embarrassed.)

"How rude." Suga left Kuroo's side to go sit next to Daichi. "What did you want me to do? Show up at your class and drag you out with us?"

"You could have asked me if I wanted to go."

"He's been saying that for a while now." Hinata nodded at Suga. "You want your usual tea, right? And Kuroo, you better hurry up and get that apron on and get back here or I'm gonna tell Ukai-san that you're constantly late all the time."

"Jeez, no need to start threatening me, Hinata." Kuroo huffed, but did as Hinata commanded, figuring he should at least be somewhat helpful to try and get back into Hinata's good graces—not that it was _hard,_ since Hinata wasn't really the grudge-y vindictive type, but still. It never hurt to try and butter someone up.

"You're right." Suga smiled at Daichi and kissed his cheek. "I should have asked if you wanted to come along, even though I knew you wouldn't have because you need that anthropology class. I'm sorry."

Kuroo blinked in the middle of pulling his apron on and stared at Suga and Daichi. His expression contorted in a curious mix of horror, wonder, and maybe envy—what the hell. After about a full minute, he turned his bewildered gaze to Hinata, wordlessly questioning him. He knew, obviously, from earlier that day, that Suga and Daichi were dating, but he never expected they'd be the type for public affection—even when Suga had kissed his hand, they'd been in a private study room in the library.

Hinata snorted before barking out a very unattractive wheeze of laughter that somehow still managed to be adorable in the way a dog or a cat sneezing is adorable. "Kuroo-san is in _deep_."

Oh—Hinata was laughing at him—did that mean he wasn't angry anymore? He decided to ask. "Hey—you're not still, uhm, angry with me, are you?"

Hinata shook his head. "Suga made a good argument in your favor. And Daichi called you a dumb ass. So I'm better and we're good."

"Shit, seriously?" Kuroo frowned, turning to face Daichi and Suga's little table in the corner. "Yo, Sawamura! It's rude to call people a dumb ass behind their back, you know!"

In true dumb ass fashion, however, Kuroo picked up a plastic spoon from the counter and chucked it at the table. Except, Kuroo had terrible aim. Like, the worst aim in the world. The little plastic spoon hit Suga on the shoulder before clattering uselessly to the floor, sad evidence of Kuroo's even sadder aim. Everyone stared in wide-eyed horror, wondering what Suga would to to exact his vengeance (not that Suga was a vengeful person, of course, but this was _them_ and shenanigans almost always ensued whenever Daichi and Kuroo were involved in _anything_ ). But Suga didn't move. Not even an inch. He didn't even seem to have blinked at having a plastic spoon smack him lightly in the shoulder after hurtling feebly through the air, not in the least bit aerodynamic. Spoons were not meant to fly, after all. It wasn't until everyone started to relax and breathe again that Suga decided to strike back at Kuroo for his blunder (all in good fun, of course). Suga twiddled his fingers with a sugar packet—Daichi caught a gleam in his eye and scooted back away from the table accordingly, fearful that for whatever reason that sugar packet was destined for his head (even though he hadn't even done anything— _this_ time). Much to Daichi's relief, he was very much safe from Suga's expert arm (this time). Suga turned around in his chair and gave Kuroo his sweetest angel smile, lulling Kuroo into a false sense of security despite the hairs tingling at the back of his neck. They screamed a warning to run for the hills (never mind that there were no hills in the coffee shop), but their cries were unheeded. Kuroo didn't have any time to duck—not even blink—as a sugar packet smacked him square between the eyes. He yelped as his hands flew to his face, too late to protect but on time to rub the "injury."

"What is it with you and sugar packets?" Daichi mumbled into his coffee, shrinking just a teeny bit to avoid having something thrown at him, too (or again, as the case was that morning and Kuroo attempting to throw the spoon at him).

"They're readily available." Suga hummed softly before sipping on his coffee and sighing contently at the sweet sugary caffeine.

"You make it very hard to trust you."

"You love me very much, I know." Suga smiled at Daichi, wickedly playful. "And the things I know how to do."

"Aaaaaaand that's all I need to hear," Hinata shrieked out from behind the counter, throwing his own sugar packet at Suga. "There are innocents among you, you know!"

The packet missed, since Hinata wasn't seriously aiming. Suga just laughed, thoroughly enjoying the flabbergasted and bright red faces of his boyfriend and other friends. "None of you are as innocent as you might look."

Hinata squawked in offense, tossing another sugar packet. "Lies and slander! _Lies and slander!_ I am the most innocent ray of sunshine on this campus!"

Long pause, several coffee shop patrons stared at Hinata in wonder—a few with incredulity.

"…Okay maybe Yachi is more innocent than me, _but my point stands!_ "

The incredulity didn't dissipate, even with Hinata's sincere alteration to his statement. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave them all his best innocent pout, brows furrowed together and lips pursed tightly with his cheeks puffed out like a blowfish without the spines. Behind him, Kuroo's face contorted into some poor attempt at a Picasso painting in his valiant effort not to start laughing at Hinata's ridiculous expression. Daichi wisely turned his head away, shielding part his face with his hand so he wasn't looking at either of the two resident goofballs with their silly faces. Suga hadn't been so lucky. He'd managed to cover his mouth but his shoulders shook so badly the tremors could have set of the Richter Scale. Even despite covering his mouth, little giggles managed to escape, audible to those sitting closest to him. Nobody heard the door's bell chime when it opened—

"What the fuck is wrong with your faces?" Ah, Kageyama, your timing was impeccable, as always.

The coffee shop erupted in boisterous laughter. Daichi finally lost all his cool composure and Suga's laughter only worsened—well, worsened probably isn't the right word, since it was a stunning sound, clear and bell-like, that would have had the room mesmerized if not for Hinata's and Kuroo's ridiculous faces (Kuroo's Picasso face fell and his jaw went slack— _he,_ of course, was entranced).

Kageyama blinked at the chaos he'd walked into, looking around, brows knit together in confusion. "…What happened?"

No one actually bothered to tell him anything. Hinata threw a sugar pack at him and it smacked him in the face.

"DUMB ASS HINATA."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pterodactyl screeching in the distance


	13. shitty university pizza and kuroo nearly chokes on a cheese stick

Hinata trudged into the campus dining center with his bag thrown haphazardly over his shoulder. A quick survey of the dining area told Hinata that his favorite corner table (complete with wall outlets for electronics) was empty and available. The survey also told him that, oddly enough, the dining center was sparsely populated. It was prime lunch time, but no one was around. That worked fine for Hinata, who still had some work to get done—he plopped into his corner chair and pulled his tablet computer out, going through the photos he'd taken the past week to start building his digital portfolio, as the teacher expected a well rounded, if not complete, online portfolio by the end of the semester. He was intent on working uninterrupted until his computer was suddenly sliding out of his view and a paper plate with a slice of pizza dropped into his view. What. The. Hell. Hinata looked up at the culprit who stole his tablet, furrowing his brows and curling his lips downward. Why did Kuroo always show up whenever Hinata _actually_ needed to get work done? He loved his roommate, he really did, but seriously—Hinata had been looking forward to some quiet solitude, _free of distraction_.

"What the hell is this?" Hinata picked up the steaming triangle by the crust and watched as grease oozed off the "cheese" and pooled onto the flimsy paper, seeping into the plate. "What the _hell_ is this, Kuroo-san?"

"It's pizza." Kuroo plopped down across from Hinata, taking a bite out of an equally greasy cheese stick. "Or at least, it's supposed to be."

"Are you sure it's dead?" Hinata asked, dropping the slimy slice of cheese, sauce, and crust back onto the plate. "I mean, I think it might still be squirming a little bit."

"…Shou. It's _pizza,_ " Kuroo deadpanned. "It was never alive in the first place. Like, literally the only part of it that came from an animal is the cheese, and even _that's_ debatable. It's probably synthetic. No way this shithole campus could afford _real_ cheese."

Hinata snorted. He rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a bento box. "I still can't believe you would feed _me_ university pizza. What am I supposed to do with it? Eat it? No thanks."

"Hey!" Kuroo huffed and puffed like the Big Bad Wolf. "I was trying to be nice."

"Nice would be doing the dishes after dinner." Hinata nibbled on an apple slice. "Nice would be not sending Suga nudes."

Kuroo made a sound not unlike a pterodactyl screeching while his face rapidly changed shades to a burning, embarrassed tomato red. "I was decent! …ish. And it was an accident."

"You were taking a bath. I have nightmares about the bathroom now. And how is a nude meant for Daichi any better than meant for Suga?" Hinata may have been exaggerating a little, but reveled in the satisfaction of Kuroo's mortification. Hey—just because he wasn't angry with Kuroo anymore didn't mean he wasn't going to at least get even. "You know I bleached the bathtub while you were in psych the other morning?"

"…I knew the bathroom smelled too clean for a university apartment!"

"Wow, Kuroo-san." Hinata gave Kuroo a level stare.

"What?"

Hinata shook his head with a smile and went back to eating his apple slices (carefully carved into little rabbits, though why Hinata wanted to chomp on tiny fruit bunnies, no one knew).

" _What_?"

Hinata remained silent, focused on his own lunch. He also kept an eye on the grease triangle Kuroo had brought him, waiting for it to start oozing away like a slug. Kuroo noticed Hinata's caution and started laughing. While chewing on a piece of cheese stick. Laughing and eating at the same time is nearly impossible—much more so than breathing and eating. Kuroo promptly started coughing as a piece of cheese stick lodged itself in his throat. Hinata blinked, setting an apple slice down.

"Kuroo-san?" Hinata asked, starting to get up to help his roommate, but stopped and plopped, dumbfounded, back into his chair when he saw Daichi approach from behind Kuroo.

Daichi came to a stop at Kuroo's back and smacked the palm of his hand hard against the broad side of Kuroo's back. Kuroo lurched, bracing himself last-minute against the table. The piece of food dislodged itself from Kuroo's throat. A bottle of water entered his watery field of vision and Kuroo snatched it up, tearing the cap off and gulping the water as if he'd been a man stranded in the desert for months.

"Don't eat and laugh, dumb ass," Daichi said, rubbing Kuroo's back when he'd finished emptying the water bottle. He ran his calloused fingers through Kuroo's hair, ruffling it and making Kuroo's trademark bed hair worse. "You okay?"

Hinata grinned at them, wiggling his toes in his shoes as he watched his friends. "Daichi to the rescue."

"I'm fine," Kuroo said, wheezing. "Shut up, Shou. I didn't need rescuing. Ugh. Breathing hurts."

"So stop talking." Daichi rolled his eyes, letting his hand fall to rest on Kuroo's shoulder. "Since you can't just stop breathing. Unfortunately."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Sawamura?"

"You know exactly what I meant."

"So rude." Kuroo huffed, rubbing his chest and throat. "Maybe I _will_ cease to breathe."

"Good. Save us the trouble."

"Daichi, are you being mean again?" Suga's voice asked, sweeter than honey.

Kuroo and Daichi stiffened simultaneously, backs and shoulders going rigid. Hinata laughed (though it sounded more like a goose honk than an actual laugh). He waved at Suga with his bright, toothy smile. He scooted his chair over so that Suga had room to pull up another chair to sit with them. Suga took the invitation and sat down next to Hinata, across from Daichi and Kuroo. Kuroo shuffled around his chair and sat up straight. He adjusted his shirt and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to smooth it out from Daichi's playful ruffling. Daichi himself pulled up a chair next to Kuroo, mirroring Kuroo's awkward shuffling—for different reasons (Kuroo was an awkward puppy in love, Daichi had been caught "bullying").

"Tetsu." Suga smiled at Kuroo (inwardly satisfied with Kuroo's nervous swallow). "How are you?"

"Been better." Kuroo shrugged. "Shou tried to murder me with my lunch."

"Hey! You were the one laughing! Besides you're the crazy person eating greasy cheese sticks!" Hinata waved an apple slice at Kuroo (and Kuroo promptly swiped it from Hinata's fingers). He turned his scandalized expression to Suga. "I promise I wasn't trying to kill Kuroo. Even though he tried to poison me with uni pizza."

"Hey, hey, back up," Daichi said, knitting his brows together. "Since when did Kuroo become Tetsu?"

Kuroo swallowed. "Uhm."

"Yesterday, while you were sulking because we didn't invite you to our 'date'." Suga smiled at Daichi. "He said I could."

"Yeah…" Kuroo trailed off, scratching his cheek and chewing on his lip. "You—can, too—uhm. Sawamura."

"You really don't have to keep calling me 'Sawamura', Kuroo." Daichi paused. "If I get to call you Tetsu, too."

"Uhm—sure. Why not?"

Suga covered his mouth to stifle a soft laugh.

"You guys are sickening." Hinata laughed. "Lovebirds."

"Speaking of~." Suga grinned at Hinata. "How has it been with your intense painter and shy graphic designer?"

Hinata made a noncommittal groaning sound, waving his hands in empty gestures. "Why don't we talk about you guys instead?"

Kuroo wheezed, though no one knew if it was out of laughter or embarrassment.

"What's there to talk about?" Daichi asked, tilting his head.

"Oh, I dunno. How about how my roommate tried to send nudes to my parents-not-parents?" Hinata side-eyed Daichi and Kuroo.

"Well, that _is_ an interesting topic," Suga said, rubbing his chin with a smile.

Kuroo almost choked again (Daichi eyed him worriedly, on standby to start smacking his back again to save his life).

"Yeah." Hinata leveled his gaze onto Kuroo as he grabbed his tablet back, having finished his lunch.

"I was joking! And I just wanted to see if I could fluster Sawa—Daichi."

"Yeah, and instead you sent it to Suga." Daichi snorted.

"On accident!" Kuroo shoved Daichi. "How was I supposed to know the pretty one from philosophy was your roommate-slash-boyfriend?"

"Dai, Tetsu does have a point." Suga smiled at Daichi. "It's not like you announce to the world you're taken. And thank you, Tetsu, for the compliment."

Daichi shuffled, nudging Kuroo back (who was by now, blushing). "Our private life is no one's business. _Koushi_."

Hinata made a gagging gesture. Kuroo looked between the couple, chewing on his lip. Was it really okay for him to be involved with them? _Was_ he even involved with them yet? He wasn't sure, but he certainly wasn't willing to ask—especially not right then and there in the dining center (where people were slowly filtering in for the inevitable packed lunch hour). Suga noticed his apprehension and nudged his leg under the table. "Tetsu. It's okay."

 

It's okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates are officially going to be sporadic 
> 
> this is the last prewritten chapter i have and school work takes priority over updating fanfics :c
> 
> ALAS POOR YORICK, I KNEW HIM WELL
> 
> i am dead ;v;


	14. suga makes bad fashion choices

Suga sat on the concrete, circular bench that housed the campus water fountain—a decorative object that, during the warmer months, students would dip their legs into. Some students would bring their dogs and let the canines hop into the water and paddle around, happy as clams in high tide. It was cooling down now, however, so there weren't really any people hanging around and cooling themselves off. Suga had actually heard a rumor that the campus would be shutting the fountain off soon—within the next couple of weeks, if the weather didn't start to warm up, which was a shame, because Suga quite liked sitting alone at the fountain and listening to the water bubble behind him. It was soothing. Suga sighed an leaned back against the concrete, nursing a pumpkin spice latte (because why not?) in his hands and sipping it occasionally when he felt he needed to warm up. He didn't have any classes that day, and was spending his free time outside, to soak up what little sun was left in the season (though it had clouded over during his walk from the dorms to the fountain, so the weather had foiled Suga's plans).

It was starting to cool down even more, and Suga found that the concrete was colder than the air around him—and he had a feeling that his butt would be freezing by the time he finally got up and went somewhere else on campus (he didn't want to go back to his dorm apartment because, as much as he'd love to curl up into Daichi's side on their couch, he dreaded the pile of homework he'd left on the coffee table—the coffee table that almost broke Hinata's toe the other week). Suga bounced his foot on the ground, careful not to jostle his latte, but needing to move part of his body to generate warmth (Daichi did always tease him about being cold blooded and freezing easily). A camera flash startled him out of his thoughts and nearly made him drop his latte. Suga knit his brows together, closing his eyes tightly to try and dismiss the little purple dots out of his vision. What the—

"Are those Uggs?" Hinata asked, taking another picture before Suga could scold him. "Seriously, Suga? Uggs?"

"They're warm." Suga opened his eyes and frowned at Hinata, shifting his legs so his warm shoes were out of the reach of Hinata's camera. He sipped his coffee with on hand and held his cardigan around him tighter, as if protecting the knit material. "Why are you taking pictures of me?"

"Because I have an assignment for candid photos of people and I'm doing uni life 'cause it's super easy." Hinata grinned. "I got a good shot of Bakageyama rushing to get dressed and get to class on time earlier. It was pretty funny—he almost fell on his face."

"…Do I want to know where you were to get that photo?"

"We were at Yachi's apartment for the night," Hinata said, pouting. "We behaved. We were just going over color theory stuff and Bakageyama was studying for art history. Yachi had some typography stuff to do. I fell asleep writing up a proposal for my semester photography project."

"Poor Shouyou." Suga smiled a bit, but it was tight, as if he were trying hard not to scold Hinata for his candid photos. Now there was photographic evidence of his guilty pleasure of Uggs and ugly wool-knit cardigans. At least his skinny jeans were somewhat fashionable, despite being obscured by the cardigan and Uggs. His cardigan covered up his cute scoop-necked three-quarter sleeve shirt, so all people really saw was the cardigan. And the Uggs. Suga poked his lower lip out. He'd thought he was cute when he'd walked out of the apartment.

"Yeah, I'm so pitiful." Hinata puffed his cheeks before he grinned again. "Why are you even out here anyway? You don't have classes."

"I wanted a pumpkin spice latte and Daichi wouldn't get me one," Suga said, pouting. "He said he wasn't going to enable my addiction. And you weren't working this morning."

Hinata rolled his eyes. "Of course not. I hate morning shifts and I like to sleep. Kuroo usually handles the morning shifts."

"He wasn't there this morning." Suga's pout deepened.

"…Did you actually get up at the ass crack of dawn to go to the coffee shop to see if Kuroo was there?"

"…No."

"Oh my God, Suga." Hinata let out a honking laugh. "You're in so deep."

"Says he who takes pictures of Kageyama getting dressed." Suga shot back, frowning at Hinata's laugh.

"Excuse you. It was for university life."

"Uh-huh. Sure."

"Okay, fine, I'm not gonna deny he's got a nice body but still," Hinata heaved a sigh, pouting at Suga. "If I wanted to take naughty pictures of Bakageyama, I would and I wouldn't need an excuse of an assignment to do that."

"Oh my God, Hinata! That is way more than I wanted to know about my roommate."

Hinata turned around and stuck his tongue out at Kuroo. "Well I didn't want to see my roommate in a bubble bath, but we don't always get what we want, do we?"

Kuroo groaned, covering his face. "Please let that go. Please. I have a reputation!"

"Suuuuuuure you do," Hinata said. "Hey—aren't you supposed to be working the morning shift anyway? You're a long way from the coffee shop."

"…I was—uhm—doing philosophy homework in the library this morning." Kuroo rubbed the back of his neck, shuffling from one foot to the other. "For the class that got canceled the other day. And working on my abnormal psych paper."

"Holy shit, Kuroo-san actually does homework?"

"Of course I do, nitwit!" Kuroo crossed his arms over his chest, pouting at the smaller male. "Otherwise I probably would have been put on academic probation or thrown out or something and then you wouldn't have your Super Cool Roommate to hang out with anymore."

"Good riddance." Hinata sniffed.

"You wound me, Shou," Kuroo whined, placing a hand over his heart. "My heart, it bleeds."

"Mission accomplished." Hinata grinned, snapping a picture of Kuroo's melodramatic, wounded posture.

Kuroo blinked several times as purple bursts starred his eyes from the flash of the camera. He rubbed his eyes and blinked some more. "What the hell, Shou? Give some warning at least!"

Hinata was already bounding away, laughter lingering where he'd been standing before.

Kuroo shook his head, sighing. He turned his attention to Suga completely and finally noticed that Suga was bundled up—knit cardigan, scarf, those regrettable shoes (Uggs?). "…Are you cold, Suga?"

"A little chilly, but I'm okay." Suga smiled at Kuroo. "I have my coffee, even though you weren't there to greet me this morning."

"Shit—sorry." Kuroo rubbed the back of his neck, shuffling. "I gave up my morning shift to get work done in the library. We have that philosophy paper due soon, right?"

"Ah, yeah," Suga said, laughing. "But I already finished mine."

"Woah—shit—seriously?"

"Uh-huh."

"Damn, how'd I get so far behind?" Kuroo asked, pouting.

"Dicking around with me and Daichi, maybe?" Suga suggested, smiling brightly. "Or meddling in Hinata's affairs?"

Kuroo whined softly. "Suga's so mean…"

"You're cute when you whine like that." Suga laughed. He adjusted his scarf around his neck, giving Kuroo a subtle glimpse of his collar bones under the wide scoop neck of his shirt. It was over in a heartbeat, as Suga finished adjusting the fabric of his scarf. But a heartbeat was all Kuroo needed. He swallowed, tearing his gaze away from Suga, looking anywhere but at him.

"You're absolutely evil, y'know that?" Kuroo puffed his cheeks, still looking away from Suga—he couldn't bring himself to make eye contact or even look at him in any way. His cheeks were still red.

Suga laughed softly. He smiled up at Kuroo, head tilted to the side, with bright brown eyes. "Don't let my innocent appearance fool you, Tetsu. Haven't you learned that by now?"

"Eh…" Kuroo shuffled, finally turning his gaze to Suga. "I'll remember that from now on…"

"Good." Suga laughed again. He patted the concrete next to him. "Sit with me?"

"Uh-huh." Kuroo nodded. He wasn't sure it was such a good idea to sit so close to both Suga and the water fountain, but he obliged. Especially when Suga was looking at him like that—like he was worth something, like he was important, like he mattered. Kuroo set his back down on the walkway and sat down next to Suga on the circular concrete bench that housed the water fountain.

Suga scooted closer and leaned into Kuroo's shoulder, sipping his pumpkin spice latte. Kuroo allowed himself to relax, letting Suga lean into him. He even shifted his arm to wrap around Suga's shoulders, thinking that was what he was supposed to do. Evidently, he was right, since Suga let out a content little humming sound. Neither of them noticed the flash of a camera in the not-so-far distance (apparently Hinata hadn't disappeared too far away, the little spy). They didn't even notice someone walk up to them until—

"Just what do you think you two are doing?" Daichi stood before them, arms crossed and a dark look across his face. "And without me, no less."

Kuroo squawked and jumped out of his skin—in being startled, he lost his balance on the concrete and fell backwards into the bubbling fountain with a splash. Unfortunately, he took Suga with him. And Suga's pumpkin spice latte. Suga cried out in surprise at the sudden chill enveloping him and Kuroo spluttered as chlorinated water sloshed into his mouth. Daichi burst out laughing. There was another flash of a camera, this time noticed by all. Kuroo shrieked out.

"SHOU, I'M GONNA KILL YOU."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CACKLES IN THE DISTANCE
> 
> (six more weeks until i'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee)


	15. fevers and forgetfulness

Kuroo sneezed. Suga sniffled. They'd both caught a cold during the walk to Daichi's and Suga's dorm. It had taken about ten minutes to pull them out of fountain. And then it had taken 30 minutes to get Kuroo and Suga to do the soaking wet drip-waddle back to the dorm. It was slow and cold, and Kuroo had already started sneezing before they even made it. Suga hadn't fared much better. His breathing had gotten short. He had to lean on Kuroo the whole time they slowly made their way across campus.

Currently, Suga and Kuroo were huddled together on the couch, nestled under a fuzzy blanket that was softer than a kitten's fur (Kuroo could vouch for that). Suga was curled into Kuroo's side, snug an warm under the blanket and his fleece pajamas. Kuroo had to borrow something of Daichi's—Suga's slight build made all his clothes too small for Kuroo's taller, broader frame. He was actually taller than Daichi, but not as broad—he didn't think anyone could have the same strong, reliable shoulders and back. The university hoodie that Daichi let Kuroo borrow was about a size and a half too big—Suga insisted, apparently, because Suga likes to wear large, over-sized "boyfriend" shirts. The sweatpants followed the same pattern ("boyfriend pants?"). Kuroo had to actually tie the drawstring on them, which was odd for him. The hoodie hung loosely off his shoulders. Kuroo hid his face in Suga's hair, since Suga was resting his head on Kuroo's shoulder. It was just as well—Kuroo wasn't sure if his face was hot from fever or embarrassment.

"You think Hinata got a good picture of us falling in?" Suga laughed softly against Kuroo's shoulder.

"God, I hope not," Kuroo grumbled into Suga's hair. "I hope it's the shittiest picture ever. Would serve him right."

"Oh, don't be like that, Tetsu…" Suga hummed. "I'm sure he's got plenty of flattering photos of us, you know."

"Yeah…. I know, I know." Kuroo sighed and fell quiet, except for the occasional sniffling.

Daichi leaned on the back of the couch. He pet both Kuroo's and Suga's hair. "Koushi, Tetsurou. You two look miserable."

"We are," they chimed together, before laughing. And then laughing devolved into coughing.

"Alright, you know what?" Daichi lightly knocked their heads together, all play. "You're both going to bed."

Kuroo whined softly. "But daaaaad."

"No buts." Daichi folded his arms across his chest.

"Sawamura, c'mon, it's not even nighttime…" Kuroo whined. "We'll be up at like… Two in the morning if we sleep now."

"Not if I knock you out with nighttime cold medicine," Daichi said, arching his eyebrows. "If you don't sleep for a thousand years after a dose of Severe NyQuil, there's something wrong with you that requires a doctor's attention."

Suga giggled. "C'mon, Tetsu. You can sleep with me. We'll be nice and warm~."

"Okaaay." Kuroo slid off the couch, keeping the blanket around him like a fuzzy cape. He held his hand out for Suga. "Bed time, Kou…"

"Oh, sure." Daichi frowned at them. "Listen to Koushi, but not me? I'm not the one that's sick."

"But you made us sick." Kuroo stuck his tongue out at Daichi.

Daichi just sighed, rubbing his face. Why he was trying to argue with a sick _child_. Because there was no way Kuroo was a mature adult in college, at least not when he was sick and argued like a four year old. Suga couldn't help but laugh at them before he took Kuroo's hand and pulled himself off the couch. They walked together to Suga's and Daichi's bedroom, yawning together. Daichi laughed at them. He followed them to make sure they actually made it into bed properly. Then he got them both a glass of water and some NyQuil. Daichi tucked them in and pulled the covers over them properly. He brushed his fingers through their hair. "Get some rest, you two. And get better soon."

"Aye aye, cap'n…" Kuroo yawned, curling into Suga, snuggling into his back. "G'night…"

"Night, Dai…" Suga hummed. "Tetsu."

Daichi chuckled softly and let them be. He left the room, closing the door behind him. He figured they'd probably be worse in the morning, but at least he had plenty of medicine, soup, and tea. They were going to need it. Ah—and coffee, too. Even if they were sick… It was crunch time. The semester was coming to a close and if they missed anything, it might be crucial for finals… Daichi pinched his nose. Ah, what a screw up. He owed them big for scaring them… He shook his head and flopped on the couch, kicking back and propping his feet up on Suga's ridiculously dangerous coffee table. He closed his eyes, leaning his head against the back of the couch.

At least it was the weekend. At least it was the weekend. If they weren't better by Monday… Well. They'd be going to classes miserable. With face masks and shit. Probably.

 

Across campus, Hinata was holed up in the digital lab, going through the shots he'd taken during the day. He had a pair of reading glasses shoved up the bridge of his nose and he was still squinting at the screen as he worked. After he left Suga and Kuroo at the fountain, he got some good candid shots of other students around campus. Some were good—really good. Like the one he'd gotten that morning of Suga nursing his coffee cup on the fountain in his Uggs and cardigan. The picture he'd taken of Kageyama stumbling out of the dorm while trying to pull his shirt and pants on at the same time. He didn't think he'd use that one for his college life project—he wanted to keep it to himself (and maybe Yachi, too). But really, Kageyama did make the whole rushed, sleep deprived college student thing look good. The other morning he'd gotten a nice photo of Yachi doing her hair. He'd gotten a few of Yachi studying. She somehow made the act of studying so—… stunning? Witchcraft was what that was. Sometimes Yachi just wasn't fair. Hinata huffed, putting that photo aside. He pulled up the photo of Suga and his coffee to work on touching up. As great as that shot had been, it still needed some help to make it into the project portfolio.

Time ticked by, unnoticed. It wasn't until dark fell and Hinata's stomach started rumbling that he realized he'd been in the digital lab all day. With only the vending machine out in the hall as his source of food and caffeine for the duration of his several-hours-long work. The first time his stomach rumbled, he ignored it. He hadn't even really noticed it—it was like 'Oh, maybe I ought to eat something' before he got sucked back into his work. A passing thought trampled by the necessity of working on a final portfolio. The second time he didn't notice it at all. The third time his stomach rumbled, it actually hurt. Well—

"Ouch…" Hinata rubbed his stomach and took his glasses off, setting them on the table beside the keyboard. He pinched the bridge of his nose and checked his phone for the time—if it wasn't too late, he could maybe swing by the dining hall on his way back to his dorm.

But, of course, it was too late. It was almost ten at night and he had a series of missed calls and unanswered texts.

 

Yachi:

**[Shouyou, please take a break and get something to eat]**

Kageyama:

**[Oi, dumbass, Yachi's worried about you. Eat something and stop squinting at the computer.]**

Daichi:

**[Suga and Kuroo are getting sick from their fall in the fountain. Kuroo's here with us for the night. And go get something to eat!]**

 

Hinata winced at just the first few texts he'd missed. Then the phone started ringing in his hand and it nearly gave Hinata a heart attack. He almost dropped his phone as his favorite video game theme song blared from it. But, it was Kageyama, so he should answer. So he did.

"Bakageyama, what do you want?"

"Stupid. Either open the building door for us or get your ass out here," Kageyama hissed through the phone at him. "It's freezing out here and you probably haven't eaten anything all day. And Yachi's teeth are chattering."

_"No they're not!"_

Hinata can't help but smile at the sound of Yachi's obviously cold voice protesting beside Kageyama. "Don't you two have key cards for this building after hours?"

"…We left them at our dorms."

"Alright, give me a minute to throw my things together." Hinata balanced his phone between his shoulder and ear as he saved his progress and packed his things up. "Almost done."

"Hurry up. We're freezing. And you're making us some hot chocolate when we get home." Kageyama huffed.

"Yeah, yeah." Hinata hummed into the phone, pulling on his jacket and scarf before throwing his bag (carefully) over his shoulder. After checking to make sure he had everything, of course. "Your place, Yachi's, or mine? Kuroo's apparently out for the night at Daichi's and Suga's."

_"My place has more study space."_

"Yachi's it is then," Hinata said. "See you in a minute."

Hinata hung up his phone and shoved it in his bag. Not a minute later, he shouldered open the heavy doors to the building. The sight of Kageyama and Yachi holding bags of fast food while bundled up in warm clothes greeted him. He grinned even as his stomach rumbled.

"I love you guys."

"We know." Kageyama scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now let's go before we freeze to death out here."

"Yeah." Hinata threw his arms around both of them—Yachi yelping in surprise while trying to keep her hold on the food bags—and walked with them back to Yachi's dorm while sandwiched between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i'm not dead i promise even though some days i feel like it
> 
> But, in all seriousness, the semester is over and I did all my finals. And I passed all my classes. And since I hadn't updated since October, I figured, y'know, those so few of you who were waiting for this fic to update deserve something. C: 
> 
> So, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/etc. etc. etc. I hope you like this long overdue update.
> 
> Much love,  
> momo


	16. something baaaaaaaaaaad

The communal kitchen in the dorms smelled like heaven. However, those who knew that particular dorm hall—the Cat's Nest—knew that if the _community_ kitchen smelled like heaven, that meant something of apocalyptic proportions happened in unit 1001. Apocalyptic. Residents steered clear of the community kitchen at all costs, even if they were hungry. It was far safer to get dressed and trudge across campus to the dining halls. So, people cleared out of Cats Nest as if their lives depended on it. Knowing the chef in the kitchen, their lives _did_ depend on getting the hell out of dodge. The distressed wailing that came and went intermittently probably helped deter everyone. Well—everyone except Kuroo. Kuroo, who knew the chef in the kitchen personally, knew that the madness wouldn't stop unless someone intervened. He just wished that someone didn't have to be _him_. It should have been Daichi. Or Suga. Hell, even Yachi. Someone who was supportive. Or parental. Or both. Someone who didn't confuse himself trying to explain things. Kuroo sighed, running a hand through his perpetual bed head. How in the world would he get Hinata out of this? He'd never _ever_ been so upset that he took over the whole community kitchen. The exodus from the hall was mostly Kuroo's fault anyway—he may have exaggerated a little bit about Hinata's tendency to over bake wen stressed. But this was a whole new level—the smell of baking hit him as soon as he entered the building. This was _bad_. How was he supposed to handle this? He wasn't sure how to even—oh, God, was that _blood_?

"Shit—Oi, _Shouyou!_ " Kuroo bolted down the corridor. He almost slipped in a bit of spilled jam—oh.

Oh, thank _God,_ it wasn't blood. Christ.

"Kuroo…" Hinata turned to face him while mixing a bowl of batter. "It's awful…"

"Ah—" Shit. Kuroo bit his lip. Was Hinata crying? "Shou, what happened?"

"My photos…"

"Your photos are great; they always are." Kuroo frowned. "What happened?"

"The…" Hinata's lip quivered as fresh tears sprung into his eyes. "They're…"

"Shou…?"

"I think… The guest speaker from the digital labs…"

"Yeah?"

"The other week when you were sick and I was in the lab…" Hinata set the batter bowl on the counter, nearly upsetting a tray of finished jelly donuts. "Kageyama and Yachi came to pick me up because it was late and cold and I hadn't eaten…"

"Okay…?" Kuroo sat Hinata down at one of the tables and knelt in front of him. "That's nothing new for you guys."

"I forgot to log out of the computer. I thought I did, but I guess I didn't…" Hinata whimpered, clutching at Kuroo's hands. "Someone took my photos… The ones of you and Suga falling into the fountain… Of Suga and is coffee… One of Yachi studying. Even a much older one of Kageyama painting… Stolen."

"Oh—sh—Shou, kiddo—" Kuroo pulled his hands from Hinata's and patted his cheeks. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know…" Hinata started to cry when Kuroo touched his face. "No one in my classes would do this… We all have our specialties. And our own special people to photograph… So it had to be the guest that the digital portrait professor invited…"

"How do you know they were stolen?"

"They showed up on a top photos blog this morning…. They linked back to the guest's online portfolio."

"Have you gone to the professor? The department head? Hell, have you spoken to the Dean?"

"No office hours on Sundays…" Hinata hiccuped. "The department head is—uhm—sabbatical? Is that what they call it? He's out in the field doing wildlife photography. The acting head is never on campus on Sundays… I don't know how to contact the Dean… Kuroo! These are photos of my friends! My boyfriend. My girlfriend. You and Suga. What do I do?"

"Shh, Shou, we'll figure it out, I promise." Kuroo got up and retrieved a roll of paper towels. He started to wipe Hinata's face. "For right now, call Daichi and Koushi, okay? Call them and explain everything. Go. I'll clean up the kitchen. Do you want to donate these jelly donuts?"

"I don't know…" Hinata whimpered. "Throw them away for all I care…"

"Shou…" Kuroo sighed. "Go to the dorm. We'll take care of it. Okay?"

"Okay…" Hinata hopped off the chair and padded to their dorm. He'd call Suga… Suga could fix it. Suga could fix anything. Right?

Kuroo watched him go, a frown on his face. He pulled out his pone and sent Suga a text message while he cleaned up the community kitchen.

 

**[From: Kuroo]**

Call Shou.

**[From: Suga]**

Why?

**[From: Kuroo]**

Something bad happened. Real bad. I told him to call you, but I'm worried he might not.

**[From: Suga]**

Should I tell Dai?

**[From: Kuroo]**

Yeah. Gonna need both of you on this one.

 

Across campus, Suga knit his brows together, staring at his phone. "Dai."

"What's wrong, Koushi?" Daichi asked from the kitchen. "I can hear the look on your face.

"Tetsu says something bad happened with Shouyou."

"What?" Daichi stopped what he was doing and joined Suga in the living room. "What happened? Is Shouyou okay?"

"I don't know." Suga looked up at Daichi. "Tetsu didn't say I don't think he really knows what's happening, either. He just says that we should call him. Like—now, I guess."

"Call him," Daichi said, frowning at Suga—but not _at_ him. "And get dressed. We're going over there."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Suga said, getting up from the couch. "You get dressed, too, Dai. It's cold out today. They're calling for snow."

"Yeah." Daichi followed Suga from the couch, but left him to go clean up the mess he left in the kitchen. It would take Suga awhile to find something to wear anyway… Since Suga had a tendency to pick out clothes for _both_ of them. Daichi shook his head, smiling a little bit. They didn't  have time for this, but… Daichi wasn't going to take one of Suga's many little pleasures from him.

Suga was taking his time—he must be on the phone now. Or taking a quick shower. One of the two. Or—Daichi rolled his eyes. Leave it to Suga to be trying to tackle both at once. He couldn't _hear_ the shower, though, so he supposed Suga was just on the phone.

"Are you almost ready, Kou?" Daichi called from the kitchen doorway.

"Yeah!" Suga called back. He came into Daichi's  "I got your favorite scarf out. It's lying on the bed. The rest of your clothes are out, too."

"Did you call Shouyou?"

"Yeah. He knows we're on our way." Suga offered Daichi a smile. "He expects us to bring something to eat. We should probably get something with chocolate. Oh! Get the keys. We'll go get him the chocolate liqueurs. The ones we only get him for Christmas and his birthday."

"You think that'll help?" Daichi asked, walking into the bedroom to change his clothes.

"Well, Christmas is coming up anyway, isn't it? It'll be early." Suga nodded. "Have to try something anyway… If it doesn't work, you could always sing to him."

"Yeah, and get us thrown out with pots and pans following after us." Daichi snorts. He left the bedroom, dressed and ready to go. He picked up the keys from the key bowl and walked out of the apartment with Suga, wrapping an arm around him. "C'mon, Kou. Let's go before it gets dark. And before Shouyou runs tears apart the kitchens at the Cats Nest."

Suga leaned into Daichi's side, brows knit together. "He'll be okay, right, Dai?"

"We don't even know what it is, Kou," Daichi said.

"I know, but…" Suga sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "This is Shouyou… He has to be okay. He always bounces back."

"Kou," Daichi said, voice firm. "We don't know what happened. But Tetsurou wasn't calling us himself, so Shouyou isn't hurt, at least."

"Let's hurry." Suga bit his lip.

Daichi nodded, and they got into the car. The car took off, safely, and Daichi took Suga to the store before heading over to the other side of campus to Cats Nest Hall. They hoped Hinata was okay and that Kuroo had been overreacting about the text.

They had no idea what to expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY LOOK ANOTHER CHAPTER. 
> 
> yeah so i noticed last chapter i screwed up my format for texting messages lol
> 
> also 
> 
> _i needed something to happen bc things need to happen but now i have to figure out how to resolve the issue_


	17. it's hard to say

When Daichi and Suga entered the dorm hall that Hinata lived in, they were greeted with the sight of several plates piled high with fresh jelly donuts and a tired, haggard-looking Kuroo. Kuroo's hair was messier than usual. He gave them a tired smile and gestures to the corridor.

"Go on up, guys," Kuroo said. "I'm still cleaning up the mess he made. I haven't gotten around to telling the rest of the residents that it's safe to come back, either, so I probably won't be up for a while. But it's pretty bad. You'll be pissed."

"Ah—then Dai will stay here and help you, Tetsu." Suga smiled at him. He disengaged himself from Daichi's side and headed up to unit 1001. He made sure he had everything he needed beforehand, and disappeared down the corridor.

"I didn't know what else to do, Dai." Kuroo scratched some flour off his face. "I got home and there was just…"

"Yeah." Daichi walked over to Kuroo and started to help him clean up the mess. "It's always been like this."

"Always?" Kuroo looked up at him from the counter.

"Yeah." Daichi grabbed a washcloth and wiped Kuroo's face clean of flour. "When we were kids in high school, Hinata had really bad stress ticks. Lip biting, finger picking—among other things. We're really lucky that it never got worse than that. I started to teach him how to cook to divert his stress. It was safer for him that way. But—"

"Mountains of baked goods, yeah?" Kuroo leaned in to Daichi's touch.

"Yeah." Daichi let his hand linger on Kuroo's face before pulling away and going back to work on the mess. He focused on the sink and counters. "So, what happened this time?"

"Something bad." Kuroo sighed. "Someone stole his photos from the other week."

"Tetsurou!" Daichi's voice was sharper than he'd intended it to be, and it was obvious with the way Kuroo flinched away from him. Daichi recoiled as well, trying not to backpedal. He hadn't meant to speak so sharply to Kuroo—not when Kuroo had had the foresight to have Suga call Hinata in the first place. He reached out and touched Kuroo's shoulder.

"I didn't know what to do, Dai…" Kuroo sighed, leaning into the touch instead of flinching away again. "You and Kou know him better and I'm no good at this sort of thing…"

"Ah—shit—Tetsu, I'm sorry…" Daichi removed his hand from Kuroo and rubbed his neck self-consciously.

"It's alright," Kuroo said, washing out the pots and pans and setting them aside to dry. Once he was done with all of the cleaning, he turned to face Daichi. "Think we should head up to check on Shou now? The kitchen's cleaned up. I can't say the same for our tiny dorm kitchen… It's probably a disaster by now."

Daichi nodded. He dried off his hands and walked up to the unit Kuroo shared with Hinata. Thankfully, the corridor was quiet—Kuroo felt himself relax a little, knowing that he couldn't hear Hinata crying. He hoped Hinata wasn't crying. He didn't think he could stand to watch that again. A guilty pang hit his chest. Was he a bad friend for not being able to handle tears? Daichi clapped Kuroo firmly on the shoulder before patting his back. Kuroo stood taller at the silent reassurance and opened the door to his dorm. He blinked when the first thing he noticed was that it was _clean_. Kuroo looked around, scrunching up his face. What happened in here? Hinata didn't clean when he was stressed—he baked. He made messes. But the dorm, including the kitchen (and Kuroo didn't bother looking, but he suspected the bathroom had a similar treatment), were sparkling. Kuroo whistled, distracted at a place he felt like he hadn't seen since he'd moved in. When Kuroo walked further into the unit, he found Hinata sniffling on the couch and nursing a box of chocolate liqueurs. But at least his eyes were dry. Kuroo rounded a corner to move into the bedroom, trying to find the culprit for the sparkling cleanliness and almost smacked right into Suga. Suga, who was wearing an apron. Kuroo was suddenly very, very distracted. Even Daichi whistled. Hinata remained catatonic on the couch.

"Uhm." Very intelligent, Kuroo.

"Go." Suga nudged him back out toward the living room with a small smile.

"You work fast, Koushi," Daichi said, brows knitting together as he helped Suga usher Kuroo to the couch, toward Hinata.

"Hinata properly tore the apartment apart before venturing to your communal kitchen," Suga replied.

Suga moved away from Daichi and Kuroo and sat next to Hinata on the couch. Hinata didn't budge. He just stared ahead. The TV was on, and it was in Hinata's line of sight. But Hinata wasn't looking at it. His gaze was somewhere far off. Kuroo and Daichi looked at each other and frowned. This really was bad. Kuroo shuffled awkwardly, wondering if he should join them on the couch. Suga caught note of his uncertainty and gingerly pulled Hinata into his lap. Hinata still hardly moved—almost as if he were a limp doll. That made Daichi's and Kuroo's heart ache, but Suga seemed as calm as ever. Suga stroked Hinata's hair and smile as Hinata melted into a pitiful mush of goo in Suga's lap. Daichi and Kuroo finally relaxed and sat down with the two of them.

"How're you doing, Shou?" Kuroo ventured, folding his legs up underneath him as if he were really a cat.

Hinata let out a soft noise, acknowledging that he'd heard Kuroo, but gave no other indication. Kuroo sighed.

"Hinata…" Suga kept petting Hinata's hair. He carded his fingers through orange locks and hugged him, comforting him like an over-affectionate parent. Suga looked up at Kuroo. "He's doing better, I promise. We've already sent emails to both the acting head of the photography department and the Dean. I considered emailing the president, but we'll see what the acting head and the Dean say first."

"How did you get those emails?" Kuroo tilted his head, bewildered.

"I went through Hinata's syllabi and the department page on the university website," Suga said, laughing quietly.

"…I forgot I could do that…" Hinata mumbled, nibbling on one of his chocolates. They were the first words he'd spoken since he'd called Suga on the phone.

"Ah—Shou, it's okay." Kuroo waved his hand, giving his tiny roommate a nervous grin (was he helping or worsening the situation…?). "Don't worry about it, kiddo. We all forget things when we're stressed out…"

Hinata managed to give Kuroo a weak smile. He offered Kuroo one of his chocolates. This caused Suga and Daichi to give each other a mirror-image expression of surprise and amusement, complete with arched eyebrows. They couldn't even get Hinata to share his chocolate liqueurs with _them_. Kuroo was certainly receiving the highest of honors as far as Hinata went. Kuroo seemed to understand, and he smiled as he accepted the gift.

"…Thank you guys…" Hinata nibbled on another chocolate. Then, he actually put the box of chocolates on the coffee table in an exercise of responsible judgment and self control. He couldn't eat _all_ the chocolates. He'd be both sick and possibly hungover in the morning. Could you get drunk off chocolate liqueurs? He didn't want to find out. Besides, he had classes the next day because _Mondays._ Ugh, Mondays. Hinata sighed.

Kuroo reached out and ruffled Hinata's hair, grinning, before leaning back, which just so happened to be against Daichi. Daichi did not complain. Or protest. Or—much of anything, really. He did drape an arm over Kuroo's shoulders, though. Suga carded his fingers through Hinata's hair again. Hinata relaxed.

"Feeling better?" Suga asked.

"Yeah." Hinata nodded.

"Want us to stay?" Daichi offered, purely out of concern for Hinata, but—

"Ew, no." Hinata knit his brows together. "I love you guys but I'm not sleeping in the same dorm as three boyfriends."

In response, the three boyfriends in question all had their faces turn varying shades of bright red. Each in turn coughed or shuffled awkwardly. Kuroo hid his face in his hands with a groan. Hinata managed to crack a small smile.

"Shou is mean…" Kuroo whined.

Daichi just patted his back and Suga laughed. Suga smiled and kissed Hinata's head. Hinata squirmed, but didn't bother protesting. No one protests against Suga when he's in Mom Mode™. Okay, no one protests against Suga _ever_. But that was fine with Hinata. He loved his best friends (despite their propensity for being really gay in public with each other—not like Hinata had much room to complain, buuuut…).

"I should—" Hinata stopped, knit his brows together. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again—like he was having difficulty finding the words. "I should go see Kageyama and Yachi… I need to tell them what's going on… If they haven't already seen it online. And I should probably try and start retaking some of my stolen pictures in the meantime."

Suga nodded and let Hinata go, allowing him to wiggle out of his lap and go pack his computer and other school things. Apparently Hinata intended to be gone for the night. Before Hinata left the room to go gather his things, he grabbed his box of chocolates. Like hell he was going to leave such a precious gift to the mercy of his roommate (Daichi and Suga know better—besides, they were the ones that got it for him in the first place). Neither Kuroo nor Daichi protested Hinata's leaving—Suga's blessing was more than enough for them to let him go. It was important that Hinata get out and get some air, anyway. He'd been cooped up in two different kitchens all day.

"Ah—Shou." Kuroo leaned off the edge of the couch as Hinata passed by him. "Don't forget to take some of those donuts with you. We can't just leave them in the lobby, y'know."

"Ehhh…" Hinata groaned, but nodded. He'd made the mess—he needed to help clean up. Even if the _actual_ mess had already been taken care of (courtesy of the three best people on the face of the planet). He would have to do something to thank them for cleaning up after him and taking such good care of him. Hinata disappeared to gather his things and then left the apartment, grabbing his scarf and throwing it around his neck on the way out.

 

Hinata would have a long couple of weeks ahead of him. Hopefully this disaster would be cleared up before it was time for portfolios to be due.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god i am so sorry for this clusterfuck of a mess
> 
> i might take a small break from this fanfic to try and get things outlined and planned ahead because i kind of lost the direction i was going in (was i even going in a direction?? that's how lost i am LOL)


End file.
